


The Velveteen Scarlatina and the Death of Tyrian Callows

by chadmaako, MeJA



Series: The Team Rifle Ideas [4]
Category: Black Lagoon (Anime & Manga), Final Fantasy IX, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, RWBY
Genre: Betrayal, Blood and Violence, Drowning, F/F, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Impalement, Kidnapping, Psychological Torture, Torture, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-05-07 14:28:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 21,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19211317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chadmaako/pseuds/chadmaako, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeJA/pseuds/MeJA
Summary: RWBY: Team Rifle (RFFL) was created by Chadmaako, who couldn't finish his vision before he passed away. Here are some of the ideas for the story's future brought to light.





	1. Velvet

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [RWBY: Team Rifle (RFFL)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7283146) by [chadmaako](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chadmaako/pseuds/chadmaako). 



> Chad “Chadmaako”passed away from a heart condition before he could finish Team Rifle. These are the ideas and plot twists Chad and I discussed. Thanks to Mrs. Chadmaako her approval for this endeavor.
> 
> So now these are the ideas that get a little more edgy, and I’ve written them a little more on the drama/ horror side as opposed to the action adventure side. If that’s not your cup of tea, or if you trigger off of any of the tags, you can skip to the end of the chapter and the note there will summarize the events. The first chapter also has a good bit of Hurt/Comfort. Next chapter will probably more about just the Hurt.
> 
> There’s some question in canon whether Fox Alistair is blind or not. I’ve landed on the side of yes, Fox is blind. It just seems to fit the story better, and I don’t know how all white eyes would be able to see “normally”.
> 
> I don’t own Black Lagoon, RWBY, Final Fantasy, Harry Potter or anything else.

Velvet Scarlatina cautiously moved her way through the rubble that was formerly a lower end section of Vale. She had become separated from the rest of her team, CFVY, after she had used up her stored hard light copies of various weapons in her Anesidora, during what they were calling now the Battle of Beacon. She had seen what she thought was her friend Fang’s Bahamut battling a Grimm Wyvern in the skies over Vale. She skirted larger pieces of rubble strewn in the roads and tried to stick to the shadows until she could rejoin people she knew. _'Right now I think I would even take Cardin Winchester!'_ she thought. _'I don’t like the feeling I’m getting from here right now…'_ She had learned to trust her instincts in situations like this.

As she made her way, there was a courtyard where she was forced into the open by the rubble. As she quickly tried to get to cover, she heard a laugh in the darkness. As a faunus, Velvet had excellent hearing and night vision. That whoever this was hadn’t tried to sneak up on her meant they weren’t very intelligent, or they were very confident in themselves, or they knew it was more difficult to ambush a faunus. Either scenario, Velvet didn’t like being alone in this situation. As she passed by a bent over lamppost, she heard from above her…

“Oh my, how lovely! You’ll do just fine!”

She looked up to see a fairly tall man with greasy brown hair braided into a pony tail, wearing boots and shin protectors that went up to his knees. He wore a white shirt that showed a lot of his chest and white pants, with leather belts strapped around his chest and body. His mouth was smiling, but in a cruel, twisted way, and she could see the insanity in his eyes. He clapped his hands and laughed manically. His laughter caused a cold chill to run down Velvet’s spine; she had heard Faith describe an animal from her world, the hyena. After hearing his laughter, Velvet had to wonder if she didn’t know now what a hyena sounds like.

He was sitting atop The lamppost, one leg under him, the other split out with his foot resting further down on the pole. “Who are you? And I’m not **doing** anything with you!” Velvet said. He laughed again, and stood up while balancing on the pole. He jumped down suddenly, facing Velvet. Grinning sickly, he said “Oh, but I’m fate tonight, sweet little bunny…” He flourished with and then extended his hand towards her. “I am the beginning of the end of your current life…” he said, then held up the index finger on his nonextended hand. “And, if you survive, the beginning of your new life. Now come along, little bunny. Don’t make this harder on yourself than you have to! Please…” He leaned towards her and conspiratorially whispered; “Please, do resist!”

Velvet obliged by executing a wicked snap kick that popped his head backwards. He returned his head to the normal position, tilted his head and cracked his neck and then smiled at her. “Thank you” he said softly, then he took a combat stance and launched himself at Velvet. Velvet barely managed to block the flurry of punches and kicks he threw at her. She knew immediately she was in trouble, as he was possibly the best combination of speed and strength she had ever faced in real combat. She activated her semblance, and selected her fighting style. He was too fast and strong for her to stand toe to toe with him, so Yang, Faith, Roberta, and Fang’s fighting styles weren’t of use to her. She used Mercury Black’s defensive style with her arms to buy herself time while she deflected his blows. She settled on Lie Ren's style, as she had seen him often hold his own for periods of time against stronger opponents. 

She knew if the fight lasted her stamina would run out, though she could outlast Ren in a given fight. Her adversary disengaged for a second to jump back and execute a mock bow (without dropping his guard, she noted), and said “Silly me, you asked my name and I started without introducing myself; my name is Tyrian, and I will be your entertainment for tonight!” He paused, then held up a finger for effect “Or rather, you’ll entertain me, one way or another!” He returned to the attack, aiming punches towards her head that she blocked, coupled with a roundhouse kick she barely avoided. She countered with a leg sweep that sent him tumbling. She took advantage of the opportunity to take off running as fast as she could towards the closest rubble and buildings. 

Tyrian kicked himself back to his feet. His face showed rage for a second, and he hissed “So Bunny likes to kick things, does she?” His face took on a feral grin, and he resumed laughing as he started to chase Velvet. 

Velvet heard Tyrian laughing as she reached the rubble. She used the shadows to hide in as she made her way as quickly as she could into a dilapidated building. She moved quickly though the building and across a narrow alley into the next building. She entered a maze of hallways and rooms to find a small room where she sat down with her back against a wall that had seen better days. Velvet tried to control and slow down her breathing as best she could. She sat as quietly as she could, trying to calm her heart rate and be as quiet as possible, hoping that she could slip out of Tyrian's grasp and then go find the safety of either her team or one of the other teams. 

She heard a footstep on the other side of the wall from herself, and hoped for a brief second or two that he would continue walking. That hope soon faded as she knew he had found her, and she started to run again. Before she could get two steps a segmented length of _something_ with a sharp end punched through the wall on her right, clotheslined her and returned through the wall on her left. Before she could even think she was lifted off the ground and pulled through the wall by Tyrian. 

She landed hard, and the segmented length looped around her throat and lifted her off the ground. She gasped for air, kicking and hitting what she now saw was Tyrian’s _tail!_ But the grip it had on her was like an iron choker around her throat, and soon she began to get weaker and her struggles became more in vain. Tyrian brought her around to face him, and she could see his eyes were turned a shade of purple. His mouth had the same cruel, twisted smile, however. “No, no bunny…you can’t hop away to your hidey hole before the entertainment is completed tonight…” he chortled. In a last act of defiance, she somehow managed to summon up enough saliva to spit in his face. 

He paused for a moment, and she could tell he was contemplating killing her. But something other than base instinct seemed to take hold of him, and he smiled a wide, sick grin at her. Quietly, he said “Don’t worry, little bunny, from here on it will only get…” She was close to blacking out when she heard him say “…worse.” Then she was spun through the air and slammed into another wall. Finally unconscious, she collapsed bonelessly in a small heap on the floor as Tyrian laughed pitilessly. 

\-----

The next morning, team RFFL had been assigned to assist in clearing some of the nastier Grimm from Vale, and they were in an apartment block when Faith’s scroll rang out. Faith punched the Beowulf she was fighting, spinning him into the air and off his feet with the force of her blow. He landed hard in front of a window, and she gave him no quarter as her next punch sent him flying through the window to land with a sickening crunch in the courtyard below. She sent word over their wireless that her floor was clear of Grimm. The rest of her team reported their floors were clear, and Team Leader Roberta called the building secure. 

Faith pulled out her scroll; Coco Adel was sending an urgent call. Faith answered “Coco, Faith here. What’s going on?” 

“Faith, is Velvet with you? She didn’t rejoin us last night…. I just figured with all that’s going on, she was spending the night with you. Then she didn’t show up for breakfast and now she’s missing at muster… “ _'Shit!'_ Faith thought. She knew Velvet never missed muster; as one of the few faunus huntresses, Velvet believed she should set an example for young Huntsmen and huntresses, faunus and human alike. To Coco she said “No, she isn’t with us. I haven’t seen her since yesterday morning before the shit hit the fan. What happened? How’d you get split up?” 

“Dammit! Gods, where is she?!” Coco took a deep breath on the other end, then said “She used up everything in Anesidora saving us from a rogue Paladin. She was knocked down, then Weiss saved us again. I sent her back out of the heavy fighting, but it was a stew, ya know? First the Atlas robots were on our side, then they were fighting us, then they went back to fighting Grimm in a way like I’ve never seen fighting before. When we finally got a moment to take a look around, she was nowhere to be found. We searched for her half the night until we were basically sleepwalking. We thought she’d turn up this morning but….damn, damn, **damn!** ” 

Faith ran through a gamut of emotions. Fear for Velvet, the love of her life. A mix of anger and sadness for Coco as Team Leader; she should have sounded the alarm sooner, but things were a mess right now after what was being called the Fall of Beacon, and no team was unscathed. “Where are you now, and where did you last see Velvet?” Faith asked. She got the information she needed from the CFVY team leader, then she keyed her communications for her team leader. Roberta answered crisply; “Team Leader to FL. _Sí,_ Faith, _que es?_ ” 

Faith replied “Team Leader, I need your help…” 

That afternoon, team RFFL and the three remaining members of team CFVY followed Roberta as she stepped out onto the courtyard where Velvet had been the previous night. Roberta’s head was on a swivel as she scanned the surrounding buildings for any signs of life, friendly, hostile, or otherwise. Finding nothing, she returned her attention to the trail she was following. Urban tracking was difficult, but before Atlas had added its finest technology to her repertoire she was known as “The Bloodhound” for her ability to track down and kill her designated targets. She had never failed to find her targets and finish them. 

General Ironwood, though he hadn’t mentioned it when he recruited her that hot summer day, had her reputation in mind when her implants were placed. Her functionality and combat readiness were the top priority, but her sensory suite was also high grade Atlas military hardware. She could overlay scent trails on her heads up display, and focus microscopically on hairs and fibers. Her onboard AI had extensive ability to analyze forensic evidence for her, and through tactile sensors in her artificial fingers on her flesh and blood hand she could analyze blood types and scent profiles. 

She saw where Velvet’s scent trail meandered along into the courtyard. Time and air currents had moved the trail around, but she could also see places along a more logical trail where scent still lingered, and they corresponded visually to where she could see the faintest remnants of footprints in the dust. Velvet was light; she stepped lightly and her boots didn’t dig deeply into the ground. Roberta mused; _'If it had been Yang or Nora, I would have to be ciega(blind) to miss their prints. Esas chicas stomp like elephants whenever they walk…'_

She could see where Velvet got to a lamppost, then there were scuff marks and a place where it looked like a relatively heavy mass had suddenly hit the ground. A new scent joined the mix there, one whose profile she did not have in her data library. Velvet’s scent trail was harder to pick up after that point, but the new one had a strong trail heading off into an abandoned warehouse nearby. Roberta didn’t believe Velvet would be that heavy if she were the one to be knocked down. _’So senorita V, you get a moment when you knock down your attacker…what do you do then, ¿que?...'_

_'Of course, you run, do you not? But where do you run too…?'_

Roberta’s vision picked out an area on nearby rubble where there was a small patch out of place. Moving quickly to it she found a small patch of long brown hair mixed with fibers that were the same color as Velvet’s jacket. A quick touch of Roberta’s tactile sensors in her fingers confirmed it, the patch had Velvet’s scent profile all over it. And the other scent trail went by this as well _'So you ran, muchacha. But he chased you, didn’t he?_ Based on her experience, Roberta checked the abandoned building, and was rewarded when she detected Velvet’s scent on the door handle. 

She picked up Velvet’s scent trail again inside the building, as well as the stranger’s trail also. Velvet’s trail made sense to Roberta; not enough cover, so skirt around in the shadows and get to the other side of the building to get out and find a better hiding place. The stranger’s trail made sense, too; criss crossing Velvet’s from one side of the building to the other, searching for where Velvet might have been hiding. Velvet’s trail led to a door on the other side of the building. 

\-----

Pain. Velvet awoke to be in pain almost everywhere. But the worst pain by far was her delicate ears; as she regained more and more consciousness she became aware that she was being dragged by her ears. The pain was nearly unbearable, far worse than the teasing yanks that bullies had inflicted on her since childhood. But she didn’t dare cry out, lest her antagonist know she was awake. Better to let them think she was still knocked out and hope the opportunity presented itself to escape. But the pain in her poor ears made her use every ounce of her willpower not to involuntarily make a sound. 

She was eventually hauled up onto some flat surface, a table or workbench of some sort. Mercifully, whoever was dragging her let go of her ears at that point, as she felt herself be shackled at her hands and feet. She heard a sound like a large door creaking open, then closing. She was startled when a voice near her head spoke; “Tyrian, did I not make myself clear? I wanted our test to be on an undamaged subject. This one is clearly damaged!” The female voice was authoritative and quietly poisonous, and it terrified Velvet to her core with how dispassionately non-empathetic it was. She felt like an insect in a Petri dish, and was certain this woman regarded her as such. 

“Please forgive me, m'lady Salem” Tyrian groveled. “She resisted quite strongly, so it was necessary to 'tame' her in order to bring her to you.” Tyrian put his hand on her chest, not at all caring where he was touching. “My Lady, if it pleases you don’t let her looks deceive you. This one looks like a sweet bunny, but she has a fire and a feistiness that will serve you well once you 'convince' her to pledge herself to you…” 

Salem said “We shall see if you are correct, Tyrian, we shall see. I hope for your sake what you say is true.. “ Velvet felt finger tips lightly brush one ear, a far more feathery touch than Tyrian’s grip. Salem next touched a single finger to Velvet’s ear, and said “You can quit playing dead now, my dear girl…” Pain shot through every nerve ending in Velvet’s body, including her ears. Her eyes involuntarily opened wide as she writhed in her chains, spasming uncontrollably. A shriek escaped her lips. It would have been louder except the shock accompanying the pain took her breath away. Tyrian also grabbed the hand he had been lewdly touching Velvet with and danced around as if it were on fire, yelping and hissing with the pain. 

“That will teach you to be so rude to our newest…acquisition, Tyrian.” Salem admonished. After the pain began to numb, Velvet managed to get her first real look at Lady Salem. She recoiled In horror at the Grimm like sorcereress. “Now dear, shall we begin, hmm?” Holding one hand over the other, a glowing light formed between Salem’s hands, resting on Salem’s lower palm. 

“W-what are you going to do to me? What is that?” Velvet shuddered, panic written on her face. Salem moved closer, saying “If I answer every question now, we will never get anything done tonight. Everything will be clear soon enough.” 

Velvet screamed “No! Get away from me!” 

Tyrian clamped one hand on Velvet’s forehead, and forced her jaw open with the other. Salem upended her palm, sending the light into Velvet’s mouth and down her throat. Velvet tried to resist, tried to cough it out, but it was light; it had no form or substance and it easily spread inside her. Velvet moaned as everything inside her, her every blood, bone, and tissue felt as if it were on fire. Slowly, ever so slowly the fire ebbed, and was replaced by a warmth throughout her. She began to feel energy suffusing her. She felt powerful, she felt good. 

“What did you do to me?” Velvet quietly asked, voice barely above as whisper. Tyrian’s cruel laughter filled the chamber and Velvet’s ears. 

Ignoring Tyrian, Salem said “I’ve given you a gift, child.” Salem waved her hand and the table Velvet lay on tilted. “Welcome to Immortality…” Salem said. 

“You’re going to need it." 

The table tilted fully vertical, and Velvet slid into a vat of black, oily liquid inset into the floor. The vat was deeper than she was tall, and her chains immediately weighed her down so she sank quickly. She fought to stay above the surface, but the chains affected her ability to swim and she tired quickly. She soon sank until the liquid covered her mouth and nose, and the thick, viscous fluid invaded her passages no matter how hard she tried to keep it out. Her head sank below the surface, and no light penetrated the vile fluid so she drowned in darkness. The liquid blocked any sound, so she drowned only barely hearing her own screams. She tried to hold her breath, but the thick liquid filled her throat, choking her. Finally, in a final effort to get oxygen, her lungs gasped and the fluid filled her chest. 

As she slowly felt her consciousness leaving her again she felt the dark energies of the fluid entering her body and suffusing within her, changing her. Her last thought before she died was of the love of her life, her Faith. She remembered the soft embraces she and Faith shared, and she thought of Faith’s big smile. She didn’t smile that way often enough, but when she did she would light up Velvet’s whole day. She remembered Faith’s tender kisses and touches as her brain finally shut down… 

\-----

Roberta tracked both Velvet’s and the stranger’s trail out of the warehouse and into another building. The building was a maze of hallways and cramped, small offices. The two trails split after entering the building, Velvet’s winding it’s way through the maze, the stranger’s more direct into the building. _'I would estimate now you are looking to hide mí conejita (bunny). It’s a good place, lots of offices, closets, etc. But this stranger is a good hunter as well; he went to the other side of the building to cut off your escape and worked his way backwards.’_ Roberta hoped, for Faith’s and team CFVY's sake, that there was an outside chance they would find Velvet huddled in a hiding place, or injured and awaiting rescue. But the realist in her feared the worst. She followed Velvet’s trail through a maze of offices, relying on her experience and awareness as well as her team to watch her back and clear the rooms as she passed through them. 

Finally she entered a room with a destroyed wall. Velvet’s single trail ended here, with a large amount of scent on the floor and the ruined wall. “Here’s where Velvet stopped to rest and hide. Someone or something was chasing her…she knelt or crouched here.” Roberta pointed to one side of the broken wall, then stepped through the hole and surveyed the other side. She could see only the stranger’s scent trails entering and leaving. Velvet’s scent was here, but more faint. The stranger’s scent was on the broken wall, as well. 

Roberta reconstructed the scene “Velvet was hiding, sitting probably behind this wall. Whoever was chasing her found her here, and, I am guessing, tore through this wall to get to her.” Roberta noticed another wall where the plaster was cracked. She went and noted Velvet’s scent on the wall, and found blood on the wall when she ran her tactile sensors over it. “He either held her against this wall or threw her into it. There are traces of blood here, Velvet’s blood.” As she talked, everyone’s faces turned grim and angry. Faith looked like she wanted to punch someone, and Roberta was certain her emotions were in turmoil knowing someone had hurt Velvet. “There is not enough blood for him to have cut or killed her. He must have thrown her against the wall and beaten or strangled her into submission. He then carried her away with him. This way…” Roberta noticed the Stranger’s footprints were more distinct, Indicating that he was carrying something. Roberta followed his trail out of the building. It headed out of Vale and into the mountains and the forests with the Grimm. Roberta stopped at the edge of the forest. 

Faith spoke up “What are we waiting for? We know he has her, let’s go get her back!” Faith made to enter the forest, but Roberta stood in front of her and stopped her, her hands on her shoulders. Roberta looked into Faith’s eyes and said “We are not equipped or provisioned to go into the forest, and in a few hours it will be dark. The trail is almost a day old, so there is no way to catch up to them before nightfall. We need to come back at first light, fully equipped and rested…” Faith interrupted “That means she’s with him for another night! God only knows what he’ll fucking do to her!...I can’t lose her! I can’t!” Faith’s eyes were haunted, and Roberta knew how many loved ones she had lost in her young life; her parents, her best friend, her former mentor, Diana slaughtered in front of her. Roberta pulled Faith into her, wrapping her arms around Faith’s shoulders. “When we find our _pana,_ we will take good care of her. Whatever she needs or wants we will find a way to get it for her.” Fang and Luna joined the embrace, both nodding in agreement with their team leader. 

As they broke the embrace and began to walk away, Faith got into Coco’s face and said “Why did you wait so long to get help? We could be looking for her in the forest now if you hadn’t waited so damn long! What were you thinking?” Coco sighed, then looked back straight at Faith, then said “I screwed up, Faith. I thought she was just lost and that we could find her on our own. Everyone else was busy with the Battle of Beacon and I didn’t reach out for help when I should have. As team leader this is my fault. I’m sorry, Faith, I know you love Velvet; so do we, and we’ll do whatever it takes to get her back. I would give my right arm now if I could take her place.” 

Yatsuhashi Daichi inserted his enormous self between Faith and Coco. He said “I too am sorry, Faith. Velvet looked to me for protection, and I have failed her. I will stop at nothing to bring her back.” Fox Alistair quietly spoke next, saying “I don’t usually say much, but I could have spoken up about getting help to find Velvet, so I bear some responsibility as her teammate, too.

Roberta said “What’s done is done and nothing will change it. There will be a time later to assign blame where it belongs, no?” She turned and began to walk back towards their quarters. “Come. We have much to prepare if we wish to help our _pana_ first thing tomorrow.” Faith, frustrated and heartsick, turned and followed the RFFL team leader with her fists clenched. Fang and Luna gave the three CFVY team members sympathetic looks and nods, then joined them in bringing up the rear.

\------

Velvet woke up coughing vile tasting black liquid out of her mouth. She sucked in a wheezing breath, then more black liquid rolled out of her lungs into her throat, threatening to choke her. She coughed and spat the liquid out of her mouth, feeling it greasily roll down her chin and neck. She blearily looked around, blinking the same liquid out of her eyes. She was still chained at her hands and feet; she was suspended above the vat she had drowned in by the chain between the shackles around her wrists. Said chain was threaded through an eyebolt that was attached to a block and tackle above her, allowing her tormentors to raise and lower her into the vat below. The shackles cruelly cut into her wrists with her weight suspended from them, and blood from the cuts they were making on her wrists flowed down her arms. Her shoulders also ached with the weight being put on them by her suspension.

Velvet suddenly felt nauseous and gagged a few times. She suddenly vomited up the black liquid from her stomach, again soiling her front. She began to look around more actively, and managed to see her own hands above her. They didn’t look human; with black and white mottled skin, and elongated fingers that ended in sharp, inch long black nails like claws, they looked like Grimm. Her thoughts were sluggish, and parts of her life hard to remember. Suddenly, the lady Salem appeared before her, and caressed her cheek. The Lady said “This is so very hard on you, isn’t it? Why not give in to me and serve me? You will anyway in the end, of course.” 

With a hoarse voice, Velvet croaked out one word “Never!” 

Salem laughed, a musical laugh that was somehow as cruel as any cackle. She ran her fingers through Velvet’s sodden hair almost tenderly, and said “You do have some fight in you, don’t you?” She pulled her hand back and nodded. Velvet heard the pulley creak above her head. She let out a quiet moan and black tears ran down her cheeks as she felt herself being lowered back into the vat below her. 

Salem was watching the liquid roil as her experimental subject fought against her inevitable drowning when Arthur Watts entered the chamber and stood by her side. In a gloved hand he held a metal object by its long, tendril- like tail. The bulbous head had a sharp end which the object tried ineffectually to stab into Watt’s gloved hand. 

“Is it ready?” Salem asked curtly. “Absolutely, My Lady. I only await your word to begin the implantation process.” Salem watched as the liquid settled and waited until the surface was still. “Bring her to me when you are finished.” 

.....

As Salem sat contemplating and staring through the window at the ruined land around her home, there was a knock at the door. “What is it?” she asked, her voice betraying her lack of interest. Arthur Watts entered, and with his clipped tone said “Lady Salem, may I present your latest creation.” Clad only in a dirty, ragged towel Velvet padded into the room with bare feet, her body a Grimm version of her former appearance.

Turning her full attention to Velvet, Salem stood and approached, eyes focused on her. “My Lady, how may I serve you?” Velvet said in her normal voice as she curtsied demurely. 

Circling around the smaller Velvet, Salem said from behind her “I wish to examine you fully. Disrobe.” Velvet obligingly dropped her towel to the floor and stood naked, without seeming to care. Salem came back to her front and said “Exquisite. I take it the surgery went well?” 

Arthur Watts said “Yes, the implant is in place and functioning normally, my Lady.” 

Salem returned her attention to Velvet. She had the same features and body as prior to her transformation, but now her skin was pale white with dabs of mottled dark black. Her eyes were black orbs with red irises. Her hair was brown still, but with black and white shocks. Her faunus ears and tail remained the same, except the skin on the inside of her ears had mottled black and white spots mixed with their normal color. Running in irregular strips over her body were rows of wicked spines. “How does it feel to be a living weapon, dear?” Salem asked. “I feel very good, my Lady. How may I serve you?” 

“Looking like that, my dear, not very well…” Salem concentrated momentarily, then Velvet’s Grimm skin, spines and colors all retreated to a line along the middle if her back. Velvet was left looking like her previous self, with the exception of the extra colors on the inside skin of her ears and flecks of red in her irises. “That’s better,” Salem said. “Let me see your control…” 

Velvet nodded, and then focused her mind. She shifted suddenly back to her Grimm form, her skin and spines suddenly erupting from her back to cover her completely. She focused again, and her Grimm features withdrew again to the line down her back. 

“Excellent, my dear…And what do you do?” Salem asked, clasping her hands together at her waist. 

Velvet smiled and said “I will get revenge on all those who belittled me, those who tormented me, using the gifts you gave me, my Lady.” 

“And what of those who abandoned you?” 

“I will destroy them, in your name, my Lady.” 

\-----

Velvet was approaching where the former Beacon Academy students were temporarily being housed when she spotted him lounging against a tree. 

“Cardin?” He heard his name spoken behind his back. Cardin Winchester turned to see a small faunus girl wearing faded jeans with holes in them and a worn blue hoodie that had seen better days. She worn torn and faded sneakers. However, there was no mistaking the ears peeking out of the covering on her head, especially for Cardin Winchester. Faith Lehane had nearly taken his head off with a punch for pulling on those ears, though Cardin nowadays would probably admit he deserved it for how badly he had picked on Velvet. They did look off to Cardin, and he wondered if maybe they were bruised? 

“Velvet, that you?” he moved towards her as she walked straight up to him. That also was unusual. Even though they were on speaking terms now, she didn’t go out of her way to be around him. She didn’t look up, but she rested a hand on his chest and said “Yeah, Cardin, it’s me. I’m back.” 

“You okay, V? I heard you were missing! You want me to take you over to the infirmary? Get you checked out?” 

She put both hands on his chest. “No, I’m okay, Cardin. In fact I never felt better.” She moved her hands up to rest them on his shoulders. She said “Hey Cardin,…want to touch my ears again? For old times sake?” 

“What? Nah, Velvet. I’m sorry I ever did stuff like that to you, y'know…” He rested his hands on her forearms. “You sure you’re feelin' okay, V? Maybe we ought to get you checked out…” 

She moved her hands to his cheeks. “You sure you don’t want a free touch?” He shook his head no once. “Because…” She turned her head up towards him, and he saw two red irised eyes looking back at him. She said “…you’ll **never** get a chance again!” As she spoke she dug her hands into his ears. Fingers like steel spikes dug into his head on both sides, and with a wet popping noise she tore both of his ears out of his head. Blood ran down his chest as he screamed until blood running into his mouth and throat started to choke him. Pinning him to the tree with one leg, she pummeled his chest plate with short elbow strikes made worse by the strips of spikes sticking out of her arms. She cut through his ornate armor soon enough, and blood splattered from the rent flesh underneath. She heard his ribs crack under her blows, and he coughed out a new gout of bright red blood. She ceased her onslaught, and let him slide to a sitting position against the tree. She again took his head in her milky white hands this time, thumbs poised over his eyes, hardened claws where thumbnails should be pricking his eyelids and drawing blood. She envisioned pushing her thumbs up into his eyesockets, eyes popping like ripe grapes as she pushed through the back of his eyes and drove her thumbs into his brain, ending him. She smiled at the thought. Instead, she leaned down to whisper in his non existent ear “You’re not worth my time, anymore.” Then she released him to turn her back to him, walked away, and left him to drown in his own fluids. 

Velvet made her way to team CFVY's temporary quarters. She remembered the back way in, so she slipped inside without being seen. She padded up to the door of the small apartment her old team was staying in, and knocked on the door. As usual, Yatsuhashi answered, as he usually bunked close to the door to better protect the team. With Cardin's blood all over her front, and her cheek smeared with blood, she looked like a B movie actress in a slasher flick. She threw back her hood, said “Y-Yatsu…” and collapsed face first into his arms. 

“Velvet!” he startled, then scooped her up into a princess carry and laid her down on his bunk very tenderly for a man of his hulking size. Coco was seated across a small table from Fox talking on her scroll when Yatsuhashi turned around with Velvet in his arms. Coco gasped and said “She’s back! She just came to our door! Call you back soon!” Coco rushed to Yatsuhashi's bunk. As she saw Velvet closely, she turned towards the small closet where the team kept their gear including their field medical kits. As she turned, she issued orders; “Fox, call for medical! Yatsuhashi, get those clothes off of her so we can see what we’re dealing with!" 

As Fox pulled out his scroll, Yatsuhashi began to unzip Velvet’s hoodie. Velvet, in a hoarse voice, said “Yatsu, remember you always protected me…” He grimaced and said “Yes, Velvet, I’m so sor…” He paused as he opened Velvet’s covering and saw no wounds. His eyes narrowed and blood began to drip from his mouth. He looked down to see Velvet’s hand had punched through his abdomen and exited out his back. When he looked back Velvet’s features had taken on her Grimm visage. “You **failed!** ” she snarled. She withdrew her hand with a gout of blood, then gripped him by his lapels and threw him into the seated Fox. They both went down in a heap. 

\-----

Fox Alistair was listening to Coco coordinate with team RFFL when he heard Yatsuhashi answer the knock at the door. He felt caution and protective feelings from the big guy as he heard his steps on the carpeting. He felt slight irritation from the otherwise determined Coco. He heard Yatsuhashi say Velvet’s name, then the smell of blood reached his nostrils. He reached out and felt Velvet in Yatsuhashi’s arms, but something was not right. He felt almost two presences where Velvet was. One was faint, but it was very sad. The other was a presence like he had never felt before. He would have studied the new presence, but Coco told him to scroll for medical, and he heard her moving towards the closet where they kept their equipment. As he pulled out his scroll, he suddenly felt confusion and then pain and betrayal come in strong waves from Yatsuhashi. At the same time he felt the faint sadness part of Velvet all but go away, and the other presence felt…. Ecstasy, at first, then nothing at all. It was as if Velvet had been transported away, leaving a hole where she had been.

Then he felt the air currents shift in the room, and he realized something big was moving through the center of the room towards him. He got up and back in time to avoid being caught underneath Yatsuhashi as the big man crashed into the table Fox had been sitting at. He sensed confusion and shock from Coco as the impact of the big guy knocked him backwards. His head hit the wall and he was dazed for a long moment. 

When the cobwebs finally cleared, he found he still couldn’t detect anything about the presence in Velvet. He could faintly detect Yatsuhashi; pain, pain, and more pain came from him in waves, indicating he was badly hurt and nearly unconscious. He heard a meaty smacking sound against the wall closest to the corridor and more pain and betrayal than he thought he could handle came from Coco. He stood, unsteadily himself – his head still ringing, and shouted Coco's name. He heard her softly tell him to “Run, Fox!” Then there was another meaty crunch and he heard and felt her heart, always so strong, ebbing out it’s last beats as it fought desperately to continue functioning.

He made for the window, snatching for his blades as he turned. It was the only way out. As he crossed his arms and dove through the glass he heard Coco scream in his mind _’Hurry Fox, she’s coming for you!'_ At almost the same time as he hit the glass and shattered it on his way out he sensed by the air currents that something was near his back. Velvet’s voice, hoarser and with a strange timber, said “ _Cripple!_ Get back here!” and he felt white hot pain as she sliced his back open. Then he was through the glass and turning as he was falling. He sliced at her with one of his blades, his Sharp Retribution flicked out like a mantis blade and he sent his aura through it, intending to destroy her. The blade skittered off of one of her spiny outgrowths and did no damage. The aura discharge did send her flying backwards, and she went head first through the back wall and into the corridor  
.  
He fell for what seemed like an eternity, even though they were only three stories up. He crashed into the big tree outside their window, and tried unsuccessfully to use it’s limbs to stop himself from falling to the ground. Fortunately the ground and grass were soft where he landed; still, it hurt everywhere and felt the arm he landed on break and the shoulder it was attached to dislocate. He grimaced and growled in pain as he slowly got to his feet. He could feel Velvet now. The sadness in part of her was back, stronger now and it had a tinge of the old Velvet he knew and loved like a sister. There was also the other presence, which he now knew was ecstatic over the pain and despair it had caused in him and his teammates. 

He thought of Coco, and the intimate moments they had together. They had loved each other, both best friends and passionate lovers. He remembered resting after a night of slow and luxurious lovemaking, how she had wrapped herself around him, spooning herself to his back and how they had fed each other from a bowl of strawberries and cream. Holding back a sob he thought of how that was over now, and his thoughts turned dark, about how the thing in Velvet’s body would pay for what it had done. He felt Velvet exit the building, moving towards the cliffs overlooking the coasts. He followed, as best as his sliced back and loosely dangling arm would let him. He could tell he was losing blood from the deep cut in his back, and he didn’t have forever to chase her down and finish the presence off. But he was determined to his last gasp to have vengeance for his team and his love, and so he doggedly followed Velvet. 

\-----

Luna looked at her scroll. She had been talking with Coco of CFVY team when Coco had said Velvet was back and she would call them back soon. She relayed the information to her team. Faith immediately was headed to the door to go to CFVY's quarters. Roberta and the rest of RFFL joined her, Roberta mentioning that she wanted to see whatever Velvet could tell her about her kidnapper and where he took her. Faith said “You’re not going to interrogate her, right?” Roberta looked stoically at Faith, her expression as emotionless as a glacier. “I mean, V's probably been through a lot, and…and” Roberta's expression softened, and she patted Faith’s head maternally. “Do not worry, I’ll be careful with our _Pana…_ ” She guided Faith to the stairs. “I will only use bamboo under her fingernails on one hand, not two. I promise…” Roberta said, stone faced again. Then she broke into a wicked smile. Faith said “That’s not funny, coming from you.” as they tromped downstairs. “It’s a little funny, no?” Roberta retorted. “No, it’s not. Not at all.” Faith responded. 

As they walked to CFVY's lodging, they noticed someone sitting under a tree, legs splayed, and their head lolling. “Is that _Cardin_ sleeping over there?” Fang asked, pointing. Faith looked, then her eyes narrowed and she ran towards him. The rest of RFFL took out after her, and she yelled over her shoulder “Somethings wrong! It sounds like he’s choking!” When she reached him, she said “Oh God! What the hell?” and knelt beside him. 

He was covered in blood and gore on both sides of his head, and his chest looked as if he had been flayed. His color was ashen, and he was gargling blood and struggling to breathe. Roberta crouched next to him on the opposite side of Faith, and reached up to cradle his neck as she tilted his head to open his airway. He continued to struggle with breathing, so Roberta forced his mouth open and swept the back of his throat with two fingers. She scooped out a large amount of clotted and liquid blood. He drew in a wheezing breath, and his color improved. 

“Should I get our field kits?” Luna asked. “No time.” Roberta said, as she pulled a roll of cloth out from underneath her gunsword holster on her back. Unrolling it to reveal her field medical kit, she selected two ready prepared syringes filled with epinephrine and painkiller that she injected into a big vein. As the drugs reached his heart and lungs his nostrils flared as his breathing increased and became more steady. “I need bandages…” Roberta said, and Luna conjured enough to fill Fang's arms. Grabbing handfuls of gauze, Roberta packed his wounds to try to stop the bleeding. Faith did likewise on the other side, while Luna and Fang handed them dressings as they needed them.

Looking at Luna, Roberta said “He needs a surgeon, ASAP…” “On it “ Luna said. Faith moved back, and Luna took her place. Luna took over cradling Cardin’s head as Roberta also stepped back. Unfurling her fan, Luna apparated with Cardin to the emergency services complex. After handing Cardin to the emergency trauma surgeon, who took one look at him and ordered him prepped for surgery immediately, Luna apparated to fetch their combat gear, then returned to her teammates.

As they approached the building, CFVY was housed in, they saw the emergency services vehicles surrounding the building. As they came closer, Lie Ren was just finishing talking with authorities. He turned to RFFL as they approached. “What happened?” Faith asked. Ren said “We received a message for help from Fox, but it got cut off. We rushed over, but it looked like a war zone in their rooms. Yatsuhashi is down with a hole through his guts. Coco looks like she was thrown repeatedly into the walls. Her heart had all but stopped when we got here, but Nora stuck her finger into an electrical outlet and then touched Coco’s chest.” At everyone’s incredulous looks he shrugged and said “In her defense, it worked. Coco’s heart restarted. Fox apparently dived out a window.” He pointed at a tree. “There’s a lot of blood there where he must have landed. He apparently went after whoever tore CFVY up, because there’s a blood trail from where he landed heading towards the coast.” Ren paused, then faced Faith directly “Faith, I am sorry to tell you this; Yatsuhashi said that it was Velvet that attacked them. He said she somehow changed into a Grimm like creature, and then tore them up…” 

“No, I don’t believe that.” Faith said. “Something’s wrong. Velvet wouldn’t do that, especially not to Coco and Fox and Yatsuhashi. She loves them like family.” “I agree,” Ren nodded. “But also, Yatsuhashi does not lie. No one has ever heard him speak an untruth, so we must accept that he believes Velvet committed these acts.” Roberta said “Let us see what the evidence shows, _verdad?_ Then we can judge better.” 

She moved towards the blood splatter beneath the tree. She showed her Atlas Military ID to the authorities, who let her pass, although with a bit of grumbling. She knelt by the blood splatter, analyzing a small drop with her tactile sensors. She checked along the blood trail from the landing spot, and then moved inside. Affixing her ID to her lapel, she made her way to the rooms upstairs. She found a war zone to be an accurate description. She overlaid the scents and used her tactile sensors to check the room, the window, and the trails in the hallways of the building. Eventually, she followed Velvet’s scent down the hallway and outside to head toward the coast. Fox’s blood trail coincided with Velvet’s trail eventually. 

The rest of RFFL and Ren caught up with her outside as she stood looking down the road to the coastal area. She turned to the group and gave them her findings; “It was Fox and only Fox who went through the window; we need to catch up to him. He is losing too much blood to be running around out there.” She moved up to face Faith, and looked at her team one by one, returning at the end to look into Faith’s eyes. She said “The only scents in that room were Fox, Coco Adel, Yatsuhashi, and Velvet’s. Velvet’s scent was the last to enter the room. Velvet’s scent was the last to leave, and she left the building headed this way with Fox following. Furthermore, Cardin’s blood was in the room mixed with Velvet’s scent.” Faith closed her eyes and tilted her face upwards, thinking _''And Cardin’s ears were torn out of his head…I don’t want to believe it. Oh, my darling V, what happened to you?'_

"There is something strange about _la conejitas_ scent. Sometimes it is normal, sometimes it is more Grimm- like…” Ren asked Faith “Do you think she is headed to the coast to meet or steal a boat to escape?” _'No,'_ Faith thought _'I think I know where she is going…'_ To Ren she said “Maybe, why don’t you take your team to the coast area in case she gets there. We’ll track her and try to catch up with her first.” Faith looked at Roberta for consent on the plan, and Roberta nodded her assent. 

As Ren walked off, RFFL closed around Faith. Roberta said “Where do you really think our _pana_ is going, _¿mejia?_ ” Faith sighed, “There’s a place in the cliffs that you can only get to along one path. It’s where we would go to be alone together. Only V, Ozpin, and me knew about it. Oh, wait, that’s ironic; Cardin knew about it as well.” Faith said “I want to talk to her, just her and me. If there’s anything of the old Velvet left, I can reach her. I have to try.” Roberta looked back at Faith. “You can go in first and see what you can do. I will be in sniper position with Luna as my spotter. Fang will be ready with Bahamut to give close support if necessary. If Luna sees her harming you with her semblance, or if I think it is too dangerous, I will fire, understood?” All RFFL members nodded except Faith, who looked like she wanted to say something. But she also nodded after a moment and team RFFL moved out. 

\-----

Velvet looked at her Anesidora. She examined the scratches on its case. She’d thought it was lost when she was taken by Tyrian, but then she spotted it in CFVY's quarters and took it with her. She remembered better times with her team as she held it and tears flowed down her face. She decided to come here for a final look at the place where she had spent some of the best days of her life with Faith. She thought about the times with her team; those they’d saved from Grimm and bandits, and the time they’d helped save Vale and were called heroes. She’d never thought it would end like this. All huntsmen and huntresses knew they might face a violent end that might shorten their lifespan; but no huntsmen or huntresses expected to kill their own team. 

After Fox’s aura discharge had thrown her head first into a wall, she had felt her old self reassert and put her back into control. The ecstasy she had felt in Grimm form from negative emotions had ebbed, but she remembered everything she had done, and how she had enjoyed doing it. She remembered now the pain when that grinning sinister scientist of that evil witch had put something in her head. After that she had relished the prospect of hurting people to enjoy the rush their pain brought her. Maybe when she hit her head that thing had been damaged? For whatever reason, now that she had control back she had come here to swallow her regrets and end her life with no one around to tempt her to harm them. Even now she could feel the itch in the back of her mind to find someone to hurt, and it was getting stronger. 

“V!” she heard as Faith stepped out. Normally she loved to hear her beloved Faith’s young voice. Now it thrilled her and chilled her to the bone. “Faith! Stay **back!** I’m not fully in control and I don’t want to hurt you!” 

Faith advanced slowly and carefully. “I don’t believe you’d hurt me, V.” 

Velvet backpedaled, “I didn’t want to but I killed everyone on CFVY…” In the back of her mind the thought came unbidden _'Give her a hug and crack her ribs, she’ll scream deliciously…'_

“No, V, they’re still alive. You hurt them, yes, but you didn’t kill them. That’s why I think you’re still in there, V. You can beat this.” 

“Faith, they put something in my head! It controls my body! Don’t come any closer! Get Roberta! Tell her to shoot me down! Don’t let anyone get close…” _'I didn’t kill them? I-I'm happy!/She’s lying! They all lie because they hate you! Pop her head like a grape!'_

_…Monitoring through Faith’s comm gear, Roberta’s finger tightens on the trigger. She doesn’t like the gunsword as a sniper rifle; too much weight on the barrel. She would prefer her Barrett M82A1, but she practiced enough with the gunsword that she is confident she can make the shot._

_“Not yet…” Luna says. Roberta relaxes her finger. A spotter with a precognitive semblance is a rare and special thing…_

“No V! We’ll get you to medical and they’ll take out whatever they put in you…” 

“There’s no time, Faith, it’s trying to take back control! I’m afraid I won’t be able to come back if it gets control again!” Velvet felt her hands become Grimm, with spines and claws for fingernails. She held them up for Faith to see. “See, it’s starting!” In desperation Velvet clawed her own head, exposing a metal tendril under her skin. Faith came forward, wanting to stop her from hurting herself. The Grimm skin spread to Velvet’s cheek. 

“Fight it, V, I can see it! Fight it!” Velvet’s eyes met Faith’s, Velvet’s pupils reddening by the second. “Faith, pull it out! Pull it out of meeee!” 

“What! No, V, it’s in your head! I don’t want to hurt you!” 

" **Pleeease** , Faith, you have to get it out! Please!" Faith hesitated, unsure of what to do. 

_…Suddenly, Luna keyed her throat microphone. “Faith, do it! Pull it out of her now!”…_

Faith jumped forward and plunged her hand into the wound Velvet had made on her head. Feeling the tendril in her hand, Faith grabbed it and pulled a length of it out with a wet, sucking sound. Velvet shrieked in pain. In the back of her mind she heard _'KILL HER!'_ , and her hand raised to reach for Faith’s throat. 

_…Roberta tensed again and prepared to fire…_

With Faith’s other hand she grabbed more of the tendril and gave a yank. The bulbous, beaked head of the implant came out with a wet pop, and Velvet fell down unconscious and writhed like she was having a seizure. The implant whipped it’s metal tendril around one of Faith’s wrists, and oriented its head to insert itself into Faith’s eye. Faith wrapped both hands around the implant's tendril behind it’s head, keeping it from plunging into her. 

But the tendril was slick with blood, and bit by bit the sharp beak edged closer and closer to Faith’s eye. Faith put everything she had into gripping the tendril as tightly as she could, but it inexorably kept slipping closer and closer… _”Faith, turn a quarter turn to your right, and close your eyes...”_ Roberta’s voice crackled over her head set. She did as she was told, and she suddenly felt the tendril go slack before she heard the sound like sheet cloth ripping. She opened her eyes to find the bullet had ripped the head clean off the implant and black Grimm bile oozed out of the open end of the tendril.. 

She dropped the tendril and ran to Velvet. Dropping to her knees beside her, Faith gently picked her up and cradled her in her arms. “Wake up, V…Please, wake up.” Faith implored. Finally, Velvet’s eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at Faith with her normal big brown eyes. Velvet said “Hi”, then closed her eyes and nestled into Faith’s embrace. Roberta and Luna appeared out of thin air as Luna apparated them. They came towards Faith, and Roberta crouched down by Velvet and quietly checked her vital signs. 

Suddenly, Fox staggered in from the underbrush. He armed his Sharp Retribution and pointed at Velvet. “Faith, put her down and get away from her. She’s dangerous and I’ll stop her before she hurts anyone else!” Velvet saw Fox, and how hurt he was and began to quietly weep. Faith said “it’s okay, Fox, its over with now, and Velvet’s back.” 

“No! Nothing is over yet! She killed Coco, Faith, and I’m supposed to let that slide?! I’m supposed to say 'Oh well, you’re all better now, so I forgive you…' Not! Gonna! Happen!” Fang and Bahamut came quietly out of the underbrush behind him. Almost silently, they crept up behind him. 

Roberta stood up after establishing an IV in Velvet’s arm. She stood in front of Faith and Velvet and activated her semblance. She spoke quietly and soothingly to him, but with authority; “Young Fox, Mr. Alistair, you understandably have the wrong information. Your teammates, Yatsuhashi Daichi and Coco Adel are not deceased. They are both in critical condition, to be sure, but they are still alive and under medical care." 

Fox shook his head. “I heard Coco’s heart stopping…” 

Roberta continued, as Fang and Bahamut came closer. “Indeed, team JNPR did find Ms. Adel to be in cardiac arrest, but by a rather unorthodox method Ms. Valkyrie restarted her heart.” Fox was getting paler by the minute, and he seemed to be close to falling down. Roberta pressed onward, saying “Since your team Leader and senior team members are incapacitated, by my authority I am assuming team leader status for both teams RFFL and CFVY.” Her tone hardened as she said “Now this is an order, young Fox, **stand down** , **safe** your weapon and **sit** down before you fall down” Fox seemed to shrink under Roberta’s authority. 

His outstretched arm and hand holding his weapon shook with the strain he was under. He seemed to struggle to find words, so eventually he just moaned. Luna said “Fox, use your semblance, can’t you feel Roberta is being honest? Don’t you feel Velvet is normal?” Roberta returned to using a soft tone; “When you have been patched up by medical and had a chance to rest, then I promise I will come explain things and answer your questions so you will understand, my young Fox.” 

Fox was so very tired, but he stretched forth with his telepathic semblance. He could feel the protective urges the RFFL team had for Faith and Velvet, but he also felt the understanding the team had for him and what he had been through. Luna radiated a calm hope for him, and Roberta glowed with an almost maternal instinct towards her team and now him as well (he had a fleeting mental image of her as a mother wolf, curled around him while he was tucked away in her warm, soft belly fur). Stretching further, he felt Faith’s love for everyone on RFFL, but especially her love for Velvet burning like a hot bonfire in the night. And he could feel Velvet, the real Velvet this time; not the dual personalities with the one that enjoyed suffering. This Velvet, though the feelings were lowered as she dozed against Faith’s chest, was tinged with sadness, but also burned bright with hope and love. He lowered his weapon. 

"That is good, my little Fox. Now, **stand down!** ” Bahamut roared behind Fox as Roberta delivered her order. The surprise proved to be too much for his overtaxed body to take and he sank to his knees and pitched forward, lapsing into unconsciousness. Roberta stepped up and caught his head and shoulders against her middle to prevent him from falling and suffering further injury. Luna conjured a stretcher and bandages again, and Roberta and Fang laid Fox down, being careful of the wound in his back and his injured arm. Fang cut his shirt off while Roberta injected him with the epinephrine/painkiller cocktail. Then they packed his wound and gave him an IV as well. 

Luna leaned on Bahamut’s shoulder, her magic reserves running low. He nuzzled her worriedly like a big cat, and she patted his muzzle. “You okay, Sunshine?” Fang asked, resting her hands on Luna’s shoulders. “I’ll be okay, just used a lot of magic today. It seems to take more magic here to do spells, conjuring and apparating. I’m afraid we’re walking out of here.” 

They loaded Fox in his stretcher on Bahamut’s back, and Roberta climbed up and sat backwards on the dragon's shoulders, using her cyberarm to hold the stretcher securely in place. She held her gunsword in her other hand, resting its pommel on her hip. Bahamut folded his wings protectively over Fox, and Fang and Luna walked side by side by his head. Fang looked at Luna and asked “So you saw that if Faith pulled that nasty thing out of Velvet’s head everything would be alright?” Luna replied “Not exactly. I saw if Faith didn’t act the thing in Velvet’s head took control and made Velvet attack Faith. Then Roberta shot Velvet to save Faith. I just hoped if Faith tried the opposite that things would work out alright.” Fang stared down at Luna, then said “Remind me never to play poker with you, Sunshine.” Luna giggled in response. 

Faith princess carried Velvet, unwilling to put her down just yet. Velvet looked up at Faith with sad eyes, and said “Gods, Faith – I also killed poor Cardin…” Faith immediately shook her head no and replied “Nope! We saved him too. He’s fucked up pretty bad, no doubt. Surgeons are going to have to put him back together, but he was alive when Luna apparwhizmagiged him to the medical center, V.” “Oh…” Velvet said “Thank you for saving him from me.” Faith smiled nonchalantly and said “You could tear up a hundred people, V, and I’d save every one of 'em if it’d make you happy.” Velvet smiled at Faith and said “My hero!” 

Roberta listened to the banter with one ear while watching 360 degrees around her from her position atop Bahamut. She also watched Fox asleep in his stretcher and monitored his vitals as well. She reflected on the kidnapping and transformation against her will of Velvet. Then the violent assault on Cardin, and on team CFVY. This tactic by their enemy had produced a great deal of disruption and had to be dealt with promptly, in her opinion. _'Sí_ ,' she thought _'a message needs to be sent that there will be a cost to be paid for what they have done. Sí, a significant cost, indeed…'_

**Epilogue**

Cardin Winchester awoke to a silent world. He realized he was in the hospital, in bed with tubes hooked to his arms and “other” places and wires to monitors and wearing a too small gown that covered a lot less of himself, given his large size. He also realized he couldn’t hear anything, and that he was very groggy, so he must be on a lot of painkillers. He also slowly realized that Faith Lehane was standing over him. He looked blearily at her while she seemed to be talking into her scroll, but why couldn’t he hear what she was saying? 

Eventually, Faith turned her scroll around and he read what was on screen; 

HI CARDIN. GOOD TO SEE YOU FINALLY AWAKE. YOU’VE BEEN ASLEEP IN THIS HOSPITAL FOR ABOUT 3 WEEKS. 

_'Huh,?'_ he thought _'what happened!'_

Faith’s lips moved and new words appeared on her scroll; 

CARDIN, SOMEBODY HERE WOULD REALLY LIKE TO SAY SOMETHING TO YOU… 

Faith motioned someone forward, and a sad looking Velvet stepped up close to the bed. She held up her own scroll saying; 

I’M SORRY, CARDIN. I’M SO SORRY I HURT U! 

Tears began to roll down Velvet’s face, and before he knew what to think Velvet leaned over him and was hugging him. He could feel her trembling and her tears got the collar of his gown wet. Suddenly he remembered…everything. He remembered the pain as her fingers dug into the sides of his head, then the black of unconsciousness had overtaken him. He remembered she was why he was here. His eyes went wide with fear, and his hands would have clenched on her to throw her off of him, but when he went to move his arms his chest flared in pain and he gasped. 

Faith saw it in his eyes and his face when he began to freak out. She grabbed his hand and talked to her scroll, what she said displayed in real time on the screen; 

CARDIN! TRY TO RELAX- VELVET WAS MIND CONTROLLED WHEN SHE HURT U – SHE IS OK NOW & WON’T HURT U AGAIN… 

Faith only could hope he wasn’t too out of it to read and understand her message. Velvet realized she was traumatizing him and backed off. She sat in a nearby chair and put her face in her hands and cried. 

Faith put a hand on Cardin’s shoulder and gently squeezed and rubbed to get his attention. She repeated her message, holding her scroll up in front of him. Eventually, he calmed and she held his hand while he settled. After a few minutes he made a “come closer” gesture with his hand. She moved as close as she could to his bedside. He waved her off, however, and pointed to Velvet and indicated he wanted her instead. “V, he wants your attention.” Faith said. “Ok, ok,…” Velvet said, then she sighed and said “I don’t want to make him more afraid of me." 

She wiped her cheeks and moved to stand beside his bed. Deliberately, she showed him her hands were empty and she rested them on his bed and leaned over him again, lip quivering and tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. Grimacing with the pain, he reached out and wiped her tears away with his thumb, then slowly and carefully reached up and tenderly stroked one of her soft ears. 

Velvet gasped and Faith put a hand to her mouth, both surprised and gratified by his seeming willingness to forgo any animosity towards Velvet. Velvet smiled through her tears at him, and took his hand into her own hands. She kissed it softly, and held it to her chest over her heart. She took one hand and rubbed and patted his arm. Forgoing her scroll, she mouthed “Thank you” at him, and he nodded. After kissing his hand again, she held out her arm, asking permission to hug him. He nodded, so she set his hand down gently, then carefully avoided his injuries to wrap her arms around his shoulders and cradle his neck and the back of his head in her hands. She kissed his forehead softly, then nestled his face into her chest and neck and rested a warm cheek on his forehead. 

Faith took his other hand into hers and kissed and rubbed it herself. She was glad he was accepting Velvet; her lover felt terrible. She remembered Cardin was trying to help her when the thing in her head made her assault him. The doctors had informed her that the damage would irreparably affect Cardin’s equilibrium; he would never be able to fight and be a huntsmen now, and might not be able to even stand up safely without assistance. His father, upon hearing that he had let a faunus injure him, had all but disowned him and no family had come to support or be with him. 

Velvet eventually released him from her embrace, but she hooked a chair over to kneel on beside his bed. She held his hand again, not letting go. With her free hand she finger combed his hair out of his face. Then she rubbed circles on his shoulders, and massaged his neck. Faith went to the bathroom and returned with a warm wet towel and a cold washcloth. With the warm towel she bathed his face and hands to help him be more comfortable. Then she laid the cold washcloth as a compress on his forehead. 

She looked at Velvet, and whispered “Do you want us to spend tonight here with him?” Velvet nodded yes. Faith went out and found a big cot they could both squeeze onto. She checked in with her team leader and informed her of her plans. As she returned she was pleased to see Cardin, despite the discomfort from his wounds, trusting Velvet enough to be dozing quietly under her tender ministrations. Velvet smiled wistfully at Faith, and looked happy… 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for those who want just a summary; Tyrian Callows kidnaps Velvet Scarlatina for Salem. Salem transforms Velvet into a Grimm version of Velvet herself and Dr. Watts puts a mind controlling implant in her head, making her into a killing machine. Meanwhile, teams RFFL and CFVY are searching for her. Transformed Velvet attacks Cardin Winchester, and the other members of CFVY, severely injuring them. Fox Alistair escapes, and wants to hunt down Velvet despite his own injuries. Faith talks to Velvet, and pulls the mind control implant out of her head. Fox is talked down from taking revenge. Velvet and Faith have a happy ending.
> 
> So canonical Cardin is a typical high school bully. Chad seemed to be having him move to be a more evolved guy with better qualities, so I continued the trend.
> 
> Velveteen rabbit in Spanish is conejo de pana, so Roberta is calling Velvet “Velveteen” for short, alluding to her as a beloved companion to her young mentee, Faith.
> 
> Next chapter RFFL wants Tyrian to send a message


	2. Tyrian, R.I.P.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RWBY: Team Rifle (RFFL) was created by Chadmaako, who couldn't finish his vision before he passed away. Here are some of the ideas for the story's future brought to light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chad “Chadmaako”passed away from a heart condition before he could finish Team Rifle. These are the ideas and plot twists Chad and I discussed. Thanks to Mrs. Chadmaako her approval for this endeavor.
> 
> So this chapter is the Hurt without much comfort. No ifs, ands, or buts; As a message to Salem and crew, team rifle captures, tortures, and executes the RWBY villain Tyrian Callows. If you’re sensitive to that, check the tags and there’s a summary in the end notes you can skip to. The epilogue is also pretty tame for everyone.
> 
> In Black Lagoon, Roberta’s character is a master interrogator/torturer. Faith Lehane in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel TV series was not above putting the screws to someone. So I’m pretty sure in their hands, Tyrian would have a bad day before his execution…
> 
> Bruja is a female witch  
> Brujita Blanca is little white witch  
> Rudo is a badass, a tough guy  
> Ejército is army  
> Campesinto is a pleasant farmboy
> 
> BTW, I don’t own Black Lagoon, RWBY, Final Fantasy, Harry Potter or anything else.

Tyrian Callows ran through the woods around the abandoned town of Oniyuri. His tail, his beloved _tail_ , spurting blood behind him, and anguish and anger was written on his face. _'Damn her! Damn her, that little red cloaked bitch! How dare she defile me by shooting off my **tail!** Damn her to hell!...'_ Tyrian began to think of a half dozen ways he would defile the little red's body, once m'lady Salem gave him her permission to do so. But for now he ran from the cause of his duress, into the deep dark night. 

Little did he know other eyes were watching him….

As he ran down a forest path, he noticed two smallish figures crouching to one side of the path ahead of him. He briefly entertained the idea that somehow members of RNJR got ahead of him and wanted to finish dealing with him, only to reject that thought in the end. RNJR didn’t have the stealth and skill level yet to do something like that, and they had poor, dying Qrow do deal with. _’They'd never abandon him, stupid little fools! That’s why they deserve to be playthings for m'lady Salem and I.’_ he thought. 

As he got closer to the figures, he readied his armblades. _’Sorry, new toys, I only have time to break you, no time for ole' Tyrian to play with you tonight!'_ Pain from the missing tip of his tail reminded him of his earlier failure, and he readied for a pair of quick strikes, intending to leave two severed heads behind. As he closed and reared his arm back to strike, he saw one of the figures grab the other's arm and they both disappeared. Too late to halt his momentum, Tyrian was thrown off balance and he stumbled to a stop, confusion on his face. _'Where'd they go?.. '_

Suddenly, he realized they were behind him. As he turned to defend himself, one of the two threw a canister at his feet. Before he could launch himself, the canister exploded in a blindingly sharp flash of light and a thunderous roar. His faunus senses, better than a normal human's at night, were commensurately more affected by the stunning light and sound. The next thing he knew, he was flying backwards to land heavily on his back. He felt as if half of his face was burning, his shoulder felt dislocated, and his knee hurt badly. He landed and attempted to scramble to his feet.

As he stood, he realized his injured leg wouldn’t take his full weight, so he began to hobble down the path as fast as he could. Now, frustratingly, he no longer thought of playing with his “toys”; his thoughts were filled with how to escape back to m’lady Salem’s lands. He pushed away the thought of how disappointed she would be with him and his state, and how he would explain it to his mistress.

He looked behind his back, but there was no sign of his pursuers. He felt wetness down the side of his neck and on his chest, which a quick swipe of his hand revealed it was his own blood. He felt up his jaw and cheek, and felt a pulpy area near his cheekbone that seemed to be the major source of the blood. As he moved, his knee injury seemed to loosen up, and he could at least put forth an effort that resembled actual running.

His ability to “run” returned none to soon, as he heard some name invoked off in the distance and then it sounded like a large animal was crashing through the underbrush as it headed towards him. Tyrian put his head down and ran for whatever he was worth as finally an Ursa sized reptilian creature erupted onto the path behind him, chuffing and growling as it gave chase to him. Tyrian screamed his frustration into the night as he ignored the pain in his wounds and tried to avoid becoming a meal for the prehistoric beast running him down. 

He was so intent upon running that he missed the trip wire across the path until it was too late. Another flash of light and a roar stunned him again, and he tumbled again, coming to rest on his back. His senses returned just in time to slide aside as a large bladed Lance buried itself into the ground where his head once was. This time his attacker was a tall, dark haired Amazonian female wearing a sarong but with leather boots and a balaclava on her head. The balaclava had a front design of a death's head stenciled into the fabric. Not giving him any quarter, the Amazon warrior planted a solid kick to his abdomen, doubling him over and sending him sliding on his back down the rough path. He stopped when he careened into a not so soft tree trunk. She followed closely thereafter, casually twirling her Lance and slicing through a mature tree trunk which then fell across the path behind her.

Hauling the dazed faunus to his feet, she propelled him further down the path and admonished him to “Stay on the damned path, because who knows what nasty surprises await yours truly should you stray too far, mate! …” Power began to glow in the palm of her hand, and she began to chuckle menacingly. In the dark, when she laughed it looked like the grinning skull on her balaclava was chuckling. “Better hope you’re faster than my fastball, slugger! Otherwise, this is gonna be a short hunt.”

Crouching down, Tyrian held up his hands supplicatingly, and said “Wait, wait! You and your friends are impressive! I can get you a job! I know people! I know someone who would appreciate your talents!”

The large reptilian that had chased him earlier lumbered up beside the Amazon and extended a forked tongue to flutter over her cheek. The Amazon winked at her scaly associate, then fixed her glare with narrowed eyes on Tyrian. “No worries, slugger! We know who you are workin' for…And we’re going to hurt you bad anyway.”

Tyrian went wide eyed; “You know who I work for…”

She drew her arm back. “You should be running now…”

Tyrian ran as fast as his injured leg would carry him as her laughter chased him down the path and her ruin singed the trees around him.

As he ran, breathing raggedly now, the path cut by a small river. He noticed a seemingly shallow spot where numerous animal tracks seemed to cross the river. He didn’t see any trip wires like he had seen over the last few minutes blocking any likely points allowing him to leave the path. _'Time for ole' Tyrian to change the game, sweethearts! I don’t like how you bitches play…'_ He turned towards the shallows, and missed the pair of ice blue eyes that opened up in a shadow behind him. He stepped onto the muddy riverbank, then heard a click behind him, and two of the canisters erupted in a doubly blinding flash and deafening roar that made him cry out involuntarily before he was stunned.

He awoke feeling like he was choking. He tried to roll to his side, but a heavy weight on his back kept him pinned to the ground. He reached up and felt a wiry cord around his neck, and realized that someone was holding him down by said cord.

“Good evening, _Señor Callows._ I will be - _¿Como se dice?_ – your entertainment this evening…” a voice with a strange accent said from behind him, and he felt the wire tighten slightly. He opened his arm blades and tried to slice the wire around his neck. Sparks flew as he tried more and more forcefully to cut her garrote, to no avail.

'Do be careful with your blades, _señor!_ We would not have you cut your own throat…yet.’ 

Tyrian took a second to measure where he felt her behind him, then lifted his arm and tried to cut into her leg. He was hoping to sever an artery or tendon, or at least cause enough pain to make her lose her grip. His blade, however, bounced off of her skin, and pain rebounded up his arm like as if he had tried to cut a metal I-beam.

He managed to barely rasp out “Can’t cut…Why?”

After he spoke, she tightened the garrote more before he could draw in an extra breath. She said “That is for me to know, _señor._ You do not seriously expect me to divulge information to you, do you?”

“Let me assist you, _señor._ I notice one of your shoulders is dislocated…” Without loosening the garrote, she put her knee into his back and with her off hand she gripped his arm below his intact shoulder, at his elbow. Pulling backwards, she dislocated his other shoulder. Over his cursing and cries, he barely heard her say “There now, you match on both sides – much better, _¿no?_ ”

Through the haze of his pain, Tyrian thought; _'Not being able to cut her-must be related to her semblance. So to get free, I have to overextend your semblance, hmmm._ Tyrian thought. _'Okay then, here we go…'_

With a Titanic heave, Tyrian rolled over and got to his knees. He drove backwards, smashing her into the biggest, most solid tree trunk he could see. She didn’t even grunt, and her grip on the garrote never wavered. For him, however, It felt like running into a metal or stone statue, and the impact drove him back to his knees. _‘I’ve got to get her off of me!...'_ he thought.

He scuttled towards the river. His assailant, not to be outdone wrapped her legs around him, digging her heels painfully into his crotch. He grunted, and thought about blacking out again, but he kept going until he reached the edge of the river. She managed to get one leg planted like iron into the ground, and, with a metal hand gripping his hair, she pushed his face into the mud by the riverbank. He blew bubbles as she cut off his air, but with a desperate final effort he kicked out with his good leg and dislodged her leg from the muddy ground. She drove a hard elbow strike into his kidneys, and he saw stars. But with the last of his strength, he flung the both of them into the deep water in the river. As they sank, he had a satisfied smirk on his face. 

As a Scorpion faunus, Tyrian could shut down non-essential parts of his body, and therefore use little water, food, or even air. He began the process as he sank into the river with his tormentor still attached. He planned to merely sit on the river bottom until she either let him go to get air for herself, or she drowned. As they settled into the mud, he waited for her grip to waver. And waited. And waited. As the minutes ticked by, he knew he either would have to go for air himself, or risk the hibernation process causing him to lose consciousness and then he would drown. He broke the process and tried to kick his way to the surface. To his shock, she again pulled him back and her metal hand again pushed his head down, forcing his face into the mud of the riverbed. He kicked ineffectually a few times, then finally things went black and he lost the fight to stay conscious…

As three of the members of team RFFL gathered by the river crossing, Roberta stalked from the river up to the riverbank. She dragged the lifeless looking body of Tyrian behind her by his collar, her garrote loosened but still taut around his neck. She released the wire and retracted it into her cyberarm, then knelt by Tyrian. With her flesh and blood arm, she thumped him hard on his chest. A big burst of water erupted from his mouth, and he took a wheezing, shuddering breath followed by another and another. He remained unconscious. Luna waved her fan, casting _incarcerous_ to bind Tyrian with thick ropes.

Roberta turned away and coughed her own gush of river water out of her passages. Her color turned ashen momentarily as her semblance deactivated, but then she recovered after a few deep breaths and stood up. Roberta had Luna conjure a black, opaque bag, a blindfold, and a strip of cloth to serve as a gag. “Allow me…” Faith said, taking the items. She none too gently gagged and blindfolded Tyrian, then she spat in his face before preparing to put the bag over his head.

Roberta toed Tyrian’s badly bruised cheek with her boot. “I thought we agreed not to touch his face unless it was necessary?” she said, looking at Faith. “Yeah, sorry. I, uh, slipped.” Faith said, smiling sheepishly up at Roberta as she quickly slipped Tyrian’s head into the bag. “I see…”: Roberta looked at Faith with a flat stare. She turned her gaze upwards, and said “I am a professional, and I take pride in my work. Something like that crude mark,…disappoints me greatly.” Faith sighed and opened her mouth as if to respond, but then pressed her lips together and nodded acquiescence to her mentor.

They tied Tyrian to Bahamut’s back. Luna climbed aboard to watch Tyrian with her semblance, while Fang walked alongside for security. Faith looked at Roberta, and said “Two questions; why didn’t he use his armblades to cut the cord around his neck? And I didn’t realize your semblance protected you from drowning?” Roberta glanced back at her younger teammate and smiled faintly. “The cord is a part of my implanted arm. My semblance protects my implants as a part of my entire body, so it made the cord 'Indestructible’ as well. As for drowning…” Roberta stared ahead, a thousand yard stare in her eyes. “My semblance keeps me alive underwater, _sí_ , but it doesn’t prevent me from feeling like I am drowning the entire time

Darkness. Tyrian awoke to darkness and the inability to move his arms and legs. Even his head and torso were restrained by to chains about his waist and a wire cage around his head. He felt a band around his eyes so he knew he must be blindfolded and he could feel cloth and a bit in his mouth so he knew he was gagged. He couldn’t hear anything other than the smallest of sounds. He also couldn’t feel anything except for his bonds and water that he seemed to be immersed in, up to but not covering his face. He didn’t bother to cry out; either he was alive and captured, in which case his captors would do whatever they had planned for him on their own timetable. Or he was dead and in his own private torment in hell for the myriad evil things he had done. In which case, the devils and demons that were going to punish him would do so at their leisure. Either way he resigned himself to waiting…

Faith came into the area of the broken down, abandoned mill that team RFFL had set up as their bathroom and looked towards Roberta in their “shower”. In reality it was a mini waterfall in the building where the water was clean enough to shower with, if not particularly warm. The tall, raven haired mercenary seemed inured to cold or heat, as the bracing _agua fria_ flowed over the muscles rippling in her back and down her voluptuously muscled long leg. The other cyberleg was sculpted to make metal resemble muscle and flesh, and it matched its twin. “He’s awake.” Faith informed her team leader, speaking to her back. Roberta turned around, displaying an equally ripped muscle mixed with voluptuousness in front as she had in her back. One arm and two fingers on her remaining hand were also sculpted metal. Faith generally wasn’t jealous of other women’s cleavage; Roberta was the exception; She was a tall, powerful woman, with a generously large bra size. And they were perfectly formed, to boot.

Roberta nodded, her ice blue eyes meeting Faith’s. Faith could barely tell the woman also had an ocular implant, and she knew what she was looking for. Roberta’s cybereye designers had gone all out to give her a top of the line package that matched her face and her other eye. She stepped out from under the water and quickly dried off, then began to don her outfit chosen to appear before her prisoner as his chief interrogator. Black combat fatigue pants and hobnailed Jackboots. A black fatigue shirt, low cut because she wished him to see that a woman was in control of his entire life; she would decide whether he ate, drank, slept, and how much pain he would be in at any moment in his new existence. She began to take the time to quickly brush her voluminous mane of black hair. “Let’s have our subject wait awhile under his new conditions. His reaction will be of interest as we meet out the Justice he deserves, no?”

She finished combing her hair, allowing it to mostly dry. She pulled it back into a rough pony tail, tying it in a couple of places. She put on a combat fatigue light grey jacket, curtesy of the Atlas military and a balaclava to cover her head and face. She tucked her hair down underneath her jacket. She put on a pair of tight fitting black leather gloves, and wore her cap from her Atlas Military uniform. Looking at Faith, Roberta said “Now that we are ready, let us go meet our happy, cooperative, and psychotic little prisoner, shall we?” 

Faith nodded, and pulled on her own balaclava and black leather gloves. Cracking her knuckles, she said simply “Showtime!”

Fang, Faith and Roberta entered the mill’s lower chamber where they were holding Tyrian. Luna cast a _disillusionment_ charm upon herself and the blank scroll she was carrying. She partially concealed herself by a low wall and used the scroll to record the events.

He was restrained in a vat of still water to a bar behind his back which had two crossbars, one at shoulder level, the other at his ankles. His ankles were manacled to the crossbar so that his legs were spread. His wrists were similarly manacled to the top crossbar. The wire cage holding his head was mounted to the top of the bar along his back, with his face tilted up above the surface of the water. A thick bag covered his face and head, in addition to the bit gagging him and the wrap blindfolding him. He was chained around his middle to a loop in the back bar. He had been stripped naked, and his tail secured at multiple points along its length to the back bar. The vat was inset into the floor, so the trio surrounded him on three sides, their bootsteps echoing loudly around him.

Roberta carried a pitcher of water, which she slowly poured over the bag covering his head. He gagged and choked, but Roberta noticed as she continued that he didn’t cry for help or beg her to stop. _’So he may be a rudo…good, a challenge instead of a teenage soldier!'_ Roberta thought, a wicked smile forming under her balaclava. She emptied the pitcher over him. Fang turned a crank on a nearby winch, and a pulley and chain pulled him and his rack up out of the vat to a height below Roberta’s eye level. Fang looked down upon him, as well. Both Fang and Roberta looked at Faith, whose eyes barely topped his shoulder. Fang winked and Roberta quirked an eyebrow at the shorter Faith, who sweat dropped when she realized what her Amazonian teammates were looking at.

Fang pulled the hood off of Tyrian’s head…

Tyrian sucked in long breaths through his nose and around the bit in his mouth. He had felt like he might drown, **again** , and the air was precious to him. Someone with a firm grip rotated the cage and his head with it until his face was vertical with his chin pointing downward. He blinked as his blindfold was removed and he looked at the three figures surrounding him. The Amazon in her sarong, boots, and balaclava with the death’s head skull was one of his presumed interrogators. One of the short figures he had encountered first was another. She wore a basic black balaclava, hobnailed Jackboots, black combat fatigue pants, and a short sleeve black fatigue shirt. He focused on the third person; she too, wore black hobnailed Jackboots, and black combat fatigues. He took note of her grey fatigue jacket and Atlas officer’s cap.

 _'Atlas military – that means they have to follow certain rules like good toys should…Stupid toys.’_ He thought. In the back of his twisted mind, however, a more cunning side noted nervously that this group had already done things that were way beyond typical Atlas field interrogations.

The one in the cap, the apparent leader, spoke to him first. “Mr. Tyrian Callows. You have been tried and convicted in absencia for a great many crimes. We give you now the chance to renounce your service with the witch, Salem, and thereby reduce the severity of your penalties. In a moment, we will record what say you regarding your service of your current employer. First, however, we must establish that escape is not an option…”

The Amazon knelt and gripped his leg by his upper thigh and his ankle, keeping it straight. The shortest of the bunch walked over and picked up a metal sledgehammer. She came back to the leg being restrained by the Amazon and wordlessly measured her stroke. She took a couple of practice runs to get a feel for her hammer, then used it to crush his knee, breaking his kneecap and dislocating his knee permanently. Tyrian screamed bloody murder into the bit in his mouth. Methodically, the two interrogators moved to his other leg and permanently disabled his other kneecap, as well.

The leader paused, studying him as he stopped screaming eventually and huffed and chuffed around the bit and through his nose. Sweat streamed down him as the pain radiated up his legs. Eventually, she casually took hold of the bit, saying “You will now be given the opportunity to renounce your loyalty to the witch Salem. Be warned, Mr Callows! There will be only so many chances you will be given, and rudeness and defiance will not be tolerated…” She opened the bit, freeing his mouth. Behind him, the Amazon moved into position.

Tyrian looked at the Leader, and began to chuckle quietly, then his laughter bubbled up and he couldn’t contain it anymore. In-between laughing, he responded curtly; “I..hehe…will…hah, hah…never…hah, say bad about m’lady…hehheh (mmff-urk)”

His response was cut short as the Leader replaced the bit in his mouth, assisted by the Amazon snapping it into place and tightening it. The short one aimed a well placed cross kick into his breadbasket that ended his laughter and left him gasping for air instead. While he recovered, the Leader produced another pitcher of water, and the Amazon put a new dry hood over his head and rotated his head back until he was face up towards the ceiling. He waited, expecting the water to be poured over his face anytime soon 

While he anticipated the water treatment, Roberta removed a sharp scalpel from a secure compartment in her cyberleg. Faith grabbed his hand and held out his thumb. Roberta leaned close to his ear and quietly and ominously said “You were informed that rudeness and defiance would not be tolerated. Perhaps this will convince you of our resolve.” Roberta cut expertly along a line on the underside of the digit from the tip back towards the hand itself. She then cut halfway around the base of his thumb. Both cuts were bone deep. Taking the end of his thumb, she slowly peeled the flesh back from the bones towards his hand.

Tyrian gasped with the pain in his hand as the leader removed his thumb. The white hot pain overwhelmed his thoughts of how the toys wouldn’t get him to go against his Lady Salem. He realized he had been wrong to think of this group as standard toys; they were serious and dangerous and he had to rethink his position. But immediately he could only think about how badly his hand hurt.

Roberta finished peeling his flesh back, revealing only blood covered bones held together by sinew. Her gloves were thick and sticky with his blood. Roberta held back the meaty flap that used to be his thumb while Faith took hold of the remaining bones. With a quick twist, Faith tore loose the bones of Tyrian’s thumb from the rest of his hand. He screamed thinly while Roberta quickly trimmed the remaining flesh into a triangular flap. Faith handed her antiseptic wipes, covered with the Remnant equivalent to bleach. Roberta cleaned the exposed area, and Faith applied a paste to control the bleeding. Roberta folded the flap back over to close the wound, and used Staples to hold it in place. He flinched as most of the Staples were put in.

As they stepped back, they lowered him back into the water until only his face under his hood was above the surface. Looking down at Tyrian by her boots, Roberta thought _'He knows to fear us now, the pendejo, so let’s see who he eventually fears more; us or the witch?'_ They left Faith to stand watch over him Fang and Roberta exited and Luna slipped out with them.

Through the haze of pain, Tyrian wondered just who these people were and where they had come from…

As Fang, Roberta, and Luna reached the side room they were using to live and wait in between sessions with their prisoner, Luna sat down by the wall and put her face in her hands. Fang knelt beside her, and Roberta took a knee on the other side. “Sunshine, you alright?” Fang asked softly as she gently pulled Luna’s hands away from her face and held them in her own. A few tears rolled down Luna’s cheeks. “I’ll be alright in a little while, Fang. It’s just…just,” Luna sighed. “I had more than one friend tortured by a dark wizard in my past. This…brought back old memories and made me realize even more what they must have felt.” She looked up with eyes brimming and asked Roberta “Please…I have spells that can be used to compel him and cause pain, but they are forbidden magic and they were used on my friends. Please don’t ask me to use them? Please?”

Roberta managed to remove a bloody glove from one hand without getting any on her hand. Producing a clean, white cloth, she dabbed Luna’s eyes and cheeks, drying them. She said “ _brujita blanca,_ I do what I do so that the people I care for do not have to. Fear not. He is strong, but I believe I will be able with my methods to break him.” She patted Luna’s shoulder. Fang sat beside her, and pulled Luna into her lap. “I’ll just hold on to you here until you’re sorted out, Sunshine.” Luna snuggled into Fang, and said “That might take awhile…” Fang responded by wrapping her arms around her and pulling her in tight.

Roberta stood and genuinely smiled at her teammates sharing a warm moment. She looked through a window inset into the wall to the chamber where Faith guarded Tyrian. Faith leaned impassively against the wall, watching Tyrian. He seemed restless, the water around him rippling as he shifted in his restraints. _'With the pain and his position, he can not get comfortable and rest. A few hours, or if he does seem to be resting then we will have another session…'_ Roberta thought. She washed her gloves and her hands, then sat at the little table by the window, watching…

Tyrian felt them raise him out of the water again. As his wet hood was removed, the leader put down the empty pitcher and set a bottle full of water near her feet. He caught his breath as he estimated the bottle to be two to three times the volume of the pitcher. The Amazon and the shorter one joined the leader like before. The leader unclipped the bit and took it out of his mouth. Before he could say anything the Amazon clamped her hand over his mouth and nose, cutting off his breathing. As he tried desperately to get air, the leader said, matter of factly, “Remember, _señor Callows_ , we control everything you need. Food, water, and, of course, air are yours only if we allow it and give it to you…” She let him struggle a few more long seconds for air, then the Amazon released him and he took a long shuddering breath.

 _“Señor_ ” the leader said, after he caught his breath again. “Have you decided to renounce your _¿Lady bruja Salem?_

 _'How dare you say m’lady’s name in your foul foreign tongue! I want to pull your tongue from your head for that!'_ He thought. Instead he said “My apologies for laughing earlier. You are a strong group and it was disrespectful. But I am afraid I cannot reject my glorious Lady Salem. I could (urk)”

The leader returned the bit gag to his mouth, cutting off anything else he was about to say. “Apology accepted, _Señor Callows._ As for the rest of your statements; all we are concerned with is your renouncement of _la bruja_.” The shorter one extended his other thumb as the hood was again lowered over his head….

As they lowered him again into the water, he sobbed quietly with pain, desperation, and frustration; now he was missing both thumbs, an index and a middle finger, and a few toes including both big toes. _'At least they let me relieve myself before I had to go in here…'_ he thought, relieved. The relief lasted up until the water began to pour over his hooded face.

As Faith and Roberta left Fang to guard Tyrian, he began the first of several shrieks born of frustration and despair…

A few sessions later, Tyrian was brought up again. This time he had even more trepidation as he reached his hood was removed. They had not poured water over his hooded face this time; he had provided information that he had observed regarding Salem’s activities, so he had been rewarded. But he wouldn’t repudiate his Lady Salem, so they had taken everything except his little fingers and a couple of his toes. Now he wondered what they would take from him next. He shuddered to think…

“ _Señor Callows_ , we will make this time simple for you. On my mark, you will have five seconds. During that time, if you blink twice you will signify you have decided to repudiate _Lady Salem_. We will then let you speak to give voice to your choice to leave her service. Your circumstances will then become more…comfortable until your end, no?”

The leader continued “If you do not blink, or do not blink twice, then your defiance will continue and…you are running out of parts that are so easily removed. You may contemplate your choice for a short period of time.” The leader clasp her hands behind her back and simply stared at him with a emotionless gaze in her ice blue eyes. After a minute she said “It is time, _señor Callows_. On my mark in three…two…one…mark.” She stared into Tyrian’s eyes. He stared back, then slowly blinked once…then as they all waited with baited breath, he did not blink twice. “Time.” The leader called. “You have reached your decision, _señor Callows_ , may God be with you.”

The shorter one moved behind him, and he felt a length of his tail being untied. Then the leader stepped up and pulled his shoulders forward, as the shorter one braced her foot against his bottom and pulled his tail taut from its base. He watched as the Amazon stepped around the leader towards his back, carrying a pair of long handled cable cutters. He realized what was about to happen, and he tried desperately to beg through his gag for them to stop. He felt the first bite of the cutters at the base of his tail, and blood flowed down his legs into the water below. He screamed bloody murder and begged again for them to “Pls! 'Top! Pls! 'Top!” over and over. The cutters bit again, causing him to scream in a high pitch. The Amazon did stop momentarily, but only to tie a tourniquet around the base of his tail to prevent him losing too much blood. Afterwards, the cutters bit again and he begged and sobbed. After a few more cuts, there was a wet sounding pop as the pulling on his lower back ceased and the short one appeared in his view to triumphantly drop his excised tail, flopping and spasming in its death throws at his feet. He quailed and hung limply in his restraints, exhausted and sick over the ordeal. The short one moved towards and behind him, carrying a hot knife. She applied the flat of the knife to the major areas his stump was bleeding from, despite the Amazon’s best efforts to apply direct pressure. The leader stayed behind this time to guard him, and to slowly release the tourniquet. 

Some hours later, the same three who always came were around him again when his hood was removed. He looked at them blearily through the pain from his mangled hands and feet, and the sickening throb from the stump where his beautiful tail used to be. He wondered what next; all that was left were his little fingers and toes on swollen hands and feet where infection was likely settling in. 

He experienced a cold chill up his spine when he saw the short one carrying a pole with a tapered, but not sharp end. The Amazon undid the chain that had been until now constantly securing his middle to the back bar. She looped it so that it crossed over his shoulders and then around his throat like a leash. The back bar was removed and she held him upright by the chains around his shoulders. He expected them to speak with him, so he waited for his gag to be removed and to hear their latest demands.

Instead he was allowed to fall forward with his face and shoulders contacting the floor. The Amazon traded sides with the other two, and she took a firm hold on the crosspiece that secured his wrists. The Amazon planted her knee solidly on the back of his head and held him in place. He sobbed and begged for them to stop, or, in desperation, for anyone to hear him and help.

They didn’t stop and no one helped him when they tried a test run of his impalement with the pole. He sobbed frantically when they cut him to make him fit on the pole better. No one helped him when they lifted him back to vertical with the pole in place, and he could only cry and scream incoherently. They removed the crosspiece and shackled his wrists together behind his back. He tried to use his legs to keep himself from sliding downward, but his shattered knees prevented him from holding himself up for very long. When they were certain he would not slide down the pole too quickly, they replaced his hood and left him to his misery.

When they went back to their waiting area, only Roberta took up the vigil over their prisoner at the window. Fang sat cross legged in a corner and seemed immersed in her own thoughts. Luna cancelled _disillusionment_ and moved towards a teacup and pot she had conjured. Her hands shook as she poured the tea, and Faith eventually wrapped her hand around Luna’s to prevent her from spilling hot tea over herself. Luna thanked her, then went to sit by Fang, who wordlessly wrapped her hand around one of Luna’s. Faith poured herself and Roberta a mug of coffee, then leaned against the wall beside her mentor, where she didn’t have to see through the window. 

“I don’t care about him, not after what he’s done. Not after what he helped to do to Velvet.” Faith said. “I see.” Roberta responded, glancing at her younger teammate. Roberta elected to remain silent on the subject, giving the young woman the opportunity to talk more if she wished. 

“Nope, I don’t care…” Faith took a deep pull of her coffee. “But there was a moment when he was begging and crying for it to stop with everything he had and I continued…I continued to do what we did in there to him. At that moment I wondered what kind of person I am that I can do that to someone begging for mercy like he was?” Faith looked imploringly at Roberta. “What we are doing is right, yeah?”

Roberta glanced at Faith, empathy written on her face for the questions the young woman was wrestling with. She took a sip of her own before returning to her stoic face and flat, emotionless gaze as she watched their prisoner ( _'or is he our victim?'_ she thought). In response, she said “No. What we did to him is not righteous, by any modern moral standard. And if you found a way to justify it morally I would worry greatly about you.”

“But when I examine the actions that I engage in to protect those I care for it is not so much a question of right versus wrong as it is can I say what I did was _**necessary**_ , or not…if yes, it is necessary than I will do it to the best of my abilities. If no, it is not, then I might need to rethink my strategy.”

“And remember, in planning for this mission it was determined that yes, it is necessary to send a message to _la bruja Salem_. Sending it via _señor Tyrian Callows's_ execution was the best option available to us. The rest of the plan followed from there…So no matter what, someone on her faction's side was going to meet a bad ending, and at our hands…”

Faith thought about Roberta’s words as she drained the last contents of the mug she was holding. She looked back at her mentor and nodded, said “Alright, I can accept that. I can make peace with my doubts, anyway.” Roberta smiled affectionately at the young woman who essentially regarded her as the big sister she never had but could have used throughout her young, troubled life. Roberta, by dint of her years of experience, then predicted “For what it is worth, I do not think this will go on much longer. I think he will either break and give us what we have been insisting upon, or he will give up, lose the will to live anymore, and die on us…” All of the other three members of team RFFL nodded their agreement with her prognostication.

Later that night, Roberta touched Faith’s shoulder to awaken her. As Faith stood and shook away the vestiges of sleep, Roberta said “I believe it is time. He spent the last two hours begging for water. He is either dozing or he has lapsed into unconsciousness now, so if he can wake up we can catch him at his most vulnerable now. You remember our plan?” Faith nodded.

Faith made to pull on her balaclava, but Roberta said “Wear that if you want to, but this likely will go better if he sees our faces.” Faith nodded again and stuffed the headgear into her pocket. She said “It’s hard to think someone could doze with a pole grinding its way in through the out door…” As they began walking, Roberta answered “You would be surprised. He’s likely exhausted, physically and mentally. Emotionally, as well. Sleep is his only respite…so we go and wake him up.”

Tyrian awoke with difficulty, the pain from his insides being forcibly displaced clouding his mind. As he became more awake and aware, he saw two beautiful women standing in front of him. The shorter, with beautiful long brown hair and soft brown eyes, was holding a bucket of clean water. The taller (much taller, he noted. He would have laughed but he just didn’t have the energy for it) had long, deep black hair, so black it almost looked blue when light reflected from it. She had striking ice blue eyes that saw through him with a thousand yard stare and transfixed him. The taller one wrung out a soft sponge in the bucket, and then gently bathed his face and head with it. He hadn’t even felt them remove his hood, gag and the wire cage that held him in place for what seemed like an eternity now. He couldn’t even hold up his own head anymore, so the tall woman held it up for him while she cleaned him. 

********

“Why do you serve _la bruja_ Salem so loyally, _señor?_ ” Roberta asked him quietly. Muzzily, he looked up at her and said “She completes me. Most everyone else in this world are toys, meant to be played with and broken like all bad boys do with their toys. She understands that, and tells me who to play with next. I’m useful to her to go fetch toys for her uses.”

********

Faith spoke; “Tch, you mean you _were_ useful for her.” Tyrian responded with “Huh?” Faith held the bucket in one, hand and pointed with the other as she made her case. “You _were_ useful and you _did_ fetch people for her. Now, no hands. Now, no feet or legs. And we know where your tail is now, don’t we?”

********

“And now your color doesn’t look too good, and you’re breathing awful heavy for somebody who’s not been running a mile or two. 'Course, having a pole stuck up your ass is probably a big part of the reason why you look so poorly, but it’s not like the damage that’s done up inside you can be reversed anytime soon…”

********

“So, yeah, you _**were**_ the fetch 'em and break 'em guy. Now, you’re just broken, yourself.”

********

Tyrian’s eyes widened, and his mouth hung open as he contemplated the implications of Faith’s words; _'I'm broken?'_ He looked down and behind himself as best he could at his mangled hands, first to the left, then to the right. A new blossom of pain inside his gut as the pole inexorably rearranged his insides proved the short one’s point that his insides were being permanently damaged.

_'I am broken! I am the toy!'_

_‘But wait…'_

He smiled, and said “M’lady can fix me, like she fixed Cinder and others…”

“She probably could; but why would she?” 

His smile froze. Roberta continued, deadpan. “Why would she use such resources?” She put down the sponge and held up a scroll with a picture of Velvet, smiling and holding a flower. “This lovely faunus you kidnapped for her to twist and turn against her team and everyone…” Tyrian nodded. Roberta put away the scroll, and resumed cooling his feverish brow with the cool, wet sponge. She wet his lips, and he greedily sucked in the moisture. “This lovely young huntress did attack her team and severely injured them, but she did not kill anyone, and the attempt to control her mind failed. Her team is recovering well, and they will now have a team member who can become a living weapon whenever it is necessary. They are stronger now because of the person you selected.”

Faith spoke up; “Then we watched you fighting with Qrow in that abandoned town. You should’ve seen your face when you lost the tip of your tail. You lit outa there like your entire ass was on fire!…”

Roberta then said; “Yet when we strip searched you after your capture, we found nothing other than your weapons and some standard gear. You must have either retreated before you could acquire whatever you were looking for…or whoever you were looking for.” Tyrian looked down, his body language suggesting his humiliation by his failure.

Faith said; “Then we take you down and make you our prisoner, and you don’t put even a mark on any of us. And now you’re gonna need pretty much a new body below your neck. Pretty big investment to make for somebody whose track record of late isn’t so good…”

Roberta loomed over Tyrian, her flat, souless ice blue eyes staring into his. Quietly, she said “Does your _Lady Salem_ reward failure much? I think that is very unlikely, no?”

He closed his eyes, a single tear rolling down his cheek. “No, she doesn’t…” _’Ah, m'lady, how did it come to this? Be careful with this bunch, they’re dangerous!'_

 _'It’s over.’_ He thought.

Sighing, Tyrian said “I’m sorry, m'lady. I’m no longer your servant. I am done.”

Roberta stepped close in to him. “You renounce your service to your Lady?”

Eyes closed, his voice cracked as he said “Yes.”

Faith turned and left, a spring in her stride. Roberta stepped up and supported Tyrian’s weight on one metal thigh, easing his suffering. She said “Thank you, _señor Callows_. It will only be a few minutes more before you can rest. Any last requests?”

“Water.” He croaked.

Roberta received a double tap on her shoulder from the still disillusioned Luna. It was the prearranged signal that they had recorded Tyrian’s words on the scroll. Roberta acknowledged by holding two fingers out behind her back. A mug containing water appeared behind Roberta’s back and found its way into her hand. She held it up to Tyrian’s lips and he drank. She let him have as much as he wanted, honoring the traditional treatment of condemned men.

Faith returned, hiding Wilt and Blount behind her back. With her free hand, Roberta pulled Blount out, leaving Faith to hold Wilt. Roberta held Blount behind her back. She offered Tyrian another sup from the water mug. She told him to “close your eyes, and pretend you are drinking from a clear, cold, and beautiful mountain stream.” Tyrian did as she suggested, and a faint smile twitched at the corners of his mouth as he finally got to slake his thirst.

 _‘Vaya con dios'_ was Roberta’s simple thought. She then quietly held up Blount, pointing at Tyrian’s head. Without changing expression, she shot Tyrian cleanly between the eyes right at the bridge of his nose. The bullet blew his brains and skull fragments out the back of his head to spatter onto the back wall, where they stuck and held fast. The water inside the mug turned red as blood leaked out of Tyrian’s mouth. Roberta reclaimed Wilt from Faith and sheathed it in Blount, then turned on her heel and crisply walked away. Her face looked like it was chiseled from stone. The rest of RFFL stood by, not saying a word. _'Damn!' Faith thought. 'I knew Bob could do cold blooded stuff, but this…?'_

**Epilogue**

Hazel Rainart stared at the old abandoned mill that was the source of the signal they were following. He hid behind the trees as he watched for any movement “Hiding” was a relative term when you were 8 feet tall, but Hazel was better than one might think at not being seen when necessary. “Detecting anything?” Hazel asked his companion, in his distinctive rumbling low baritone voice.

“Nothing significant…” Dr. Arthur Watts replied. “Then let’s get this over with…” Hazel said, moving towards the side door in front of them. Shrugging, Watts followed. “Any traps?” Hazel asked as he approached the door. “Nothing detected…” Watts answered. Hazel moved forward and took ahold of the door handle. With a simple twist of his hand he broke open the door, but then opened it and stepped in quietly for a man his size. Watts followed, giving Hazel some space and letting him lead.

The two reached the abandoned Mill’s lower level. “Looks like they were living here…” Hazel said, feeling the slowly cooling wood stove. “I believe I’ve found the source of our signal…” Watts beckoned Hazel to the window inset into the interior wall. Through the window they could see another room with a block and tackle, a bucket on the floor, and an activated scroll on a countertop. They moved to the next room.

As they entered the room, Watts started to move alongside Hazel, but Hazel threw out one enormous, scarred arm and blocked his advance. Peering cautiously around Hazel, Watts saw the reason for the big man's concern; a blood pattern on the far wall. “Looks likely that someone lost their head in here.” Watts opinioned. “Blood’s been dry for awhile.” Hazel said. “Whatever happened here, looks like we missed it.” Hazel moved forward, and Watts headed for the scroll.

As Watts checked the scroll, Hazel noticed a chain from the block was hanging into a vat in the room's floor. Opening the vat, Hazel was struck by the smell of lye mixed in the hot water of the vat. Turning the hand crank, Hazel raised the chain until a object wrapped in the chain came into view. As the object came up, Watts informed him that the scroll was ready to play it’s single recording. Hazel nodded towards the armband with attached side blades hanging from the chain. “It’s his.” Hazel said, as Watts sighed and nodded his agreement.

They both huddled over the scroll as the recording played. Dispassionately, they watched Tyrian Callows's torture and execution. When the recording had finished, Arthur Watts, hands clasp with one index finger extended to his lips, said “Well, the silver lining is that we will never have to hear that insufferable laugh of his again.” Hazel just turned away, then said “I can’t say he didn’t deserve what he got, but is this where we are going now?”

Watts said “Bigger picture, this is a warning, see? There’s a reason that female rabbit faunus's picture was used; it’s a deliberate warning not to try again what we did to her…”

Hazel knocked one knuckle on the countertop, then said “This is more than just a warning for her, this is also a message for us; follow her at our own peril.”

Watts smiled as he said “Yes, puts us in a bit of a pickle; I can’t leave Lady Salem’s service and you won’t leave her, so is there a pole waiting for us, too?”

The scroll emitted a tone. Watts checked it and said “A hidden file just opened; all it contains is a few lines of text…”

The first line read; 'If you have not watched the recording, watch it first.’

The second and last line read; 'Now that you have watched it. RUN!'

One of Watts's devices beeped and whistled frantically. Examining it, he said “There is a surge of energetic dust…We need to go, now!”

Digging into the pouches on his belt, Hazel produced handfuls of sharp crystals made from dust. Plunging them into his arms, he crackled with power as energy discharges laced up his arms. He turned to the outside wall and fired a burst of red flames from his hands. The wall timbers gave way, opening a hole to the outside. Grabbing Watts under his arm, Hazel ran and leapt through the newly open exit, Watts protesting the whole way, saying “What are you dooooooooo…”

They landed on the sloping ground outside, amongst the forest trees. The spongy forest floor cushioned their landing as the two men separated and rolled to a stop. Seconds later they both laid flat and covered their heads and ears as the old mill shattered with a massive dust explosion, raining timbers down on the surrounding forest. Four smaller explosions took out the support beams under the old Mill’s foundation, and the remaining structure and rusty machinery collapsed and slid downslope, taking trees, rocks, and other debris with it in a rolling landslide.

Hazel and Watts staggered to their feet. Anger crossed Hazel’s face as he turned to Watts and said “I thought you said there were no traps!”

Nonplussed, Watts continued to dust himself off and replied “I said none detected….Ah, I understand; the message's end didn’t signal to the bomb to go off. The bomb was rigged to passively listen for the scroll's signal, the same one that attracted us here. When we played the recording, the signal stopped, and a timer must have started on the bomb.”

Watts smiled, one corner of his moustache quirking upwards. “What a nasty little trick…I think I’m starting to like our new adversaries.” Hazel rolled his eyes and shook his head as he started the long walk upslope.

In front of a bar in Haven, Roberta paused as her scroll chirped in her ear. She watched momentarily as a counter ticked to zero, and her stoicism broke for a few seconds as a wicked smile turned up the corners of her mouth. She looked around, then appeared to notice someone as she looked into the bar's main window.

Entering the bar, she made her way to the counter where she stopped by a tall man in a dingy white coat with tails. He wore black boots, black pants and looked like he had combed his hair sometime this week. An intricate gunblade /scythe Roberta knew was named Harbinger rested by his side. She addressed him “ _Señor Qrow_ , are you alone? If this seat is not taken, might I join you for a moment?”

Glancing at Roberta, Qrow, nudged the barstool next to him backwards and said, in his melancholy way, “Seats taken by you, if you want it. How can I help you?” Sitting down, she said “ _Gracías_ , thank you” to him and then ordered a particular drink, the closest thing she had found on Remnant to a shot of Tequila.

She began “First off, I am pleased to see that you recovered from your being stung by that scorpion faunus. I wish to apologize that my team and I were not able to assist you and the young RNJR team that night in the field. We were in the area, but were on a mission of our own. I am glad to see that team RNJR was able to get you to a doctor in time.”

Qrow pulled from his glass, then looked at Roberta and said “S’alright, they’re good kids. I was in good hands. I’ll just have to run across that half bug someday and repay him for the trouble.”

Roberta downed her shot, then turned to him and said “About that…we may have robbed you of your vengeance. You see, the half bug, as you called him, was our mission. We were to find him and make an example of him because of what happened with Velvet; he was to be a message for anyone on the other side contemplating or helping with such experiments.”

Qrow looked at her. She thought _'He is sad! That he cannot take his revenge? No, he does not seem driven by such things…'_ “I guess it’s better your team, or Winter and I do that kind of stuff, rather than these 'kids' have to. But it’s gonna be that much more dangerous out there if that kind of stuff becomes the norm”

She nodded, said “Indeed.”

“But thanks for saving me the trouble, anyway…” He raised his glass to her, said “What did you say, 'grazzy as', for thank you?”

“ _Gracías, señor_ , and _de nada_ , you’re welcome.”

“Um, excuse me…” They both turned to see a young boy, wearing suspenders and a rough, homespun white shirt. He had dark brown hair and deep brown eyes, and a tan from obviously working out in the sun. Roberta immediately recognized him as a boy raised on a farm, like so many _campesintos_ she had seen in her life. _'Like so many drafted into El ejército as soldanos that I killed…'_ she thought.

The boy looked at Qrow. Obviously working up his courage, he said “I was told I could find you here…and that you would have my cane?” Qrow stared at the boy as he approached. Then swallowed his drink and stood up. He dropped enough for his and her drinks plus a good tip, nodded and said “’Scuze me, Ms Cisneros. I have some business to take care of.” He pulled Ozpin’s cane in its retracted form from somewhere and held it up to the boy.

As the boy reached out and took the cane from Qrow, Roberta’s hand gently landed on the youth's shoulder. “ _Perdoname, señor Qrow_. Young Sir, please forgive my forwardness, but may I inquire what is your name?” The farmboy looked at Roberta; easily the tallest and most beautiful woman he had ever seen favored him with a warm and kind smile. Qrow was startled for a second to see Roberta’s eyes, usually flat and with a thousand yard stare, were blazing with excitement and life as she looked at the kid.

The boy was transfixed by her ice blue eyes that seemed to look right into him. His eyes glazed for just a moment, before his gaze steadied and he seemed to return to the moment he was in. A look of subtle concern briefly crossed Roberta’s face, quickly masked but not before the sharp eyed Qrow saw it. The boy replied “Oscar, ma'am. My name is Oscar Pine.”

Roberta stepped off her barstool and towered over Oscar. Her arms encircled him, with her hands resting lightly on his shoulders. Smiling gently she softly said “Young master Pine, forgive me, but you asked about _**your**_ cane?”

********

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those just wanting a summary; RFFL captures Tyrian Callows, drowning him until he’s unconscious. They then torture him with water boarding, sensory deprivation, and cutting off his fingers, toes, and the rest of his tail. Finally, they impale him (like Vlad Tepes, Transylvania style impalement). When he’s at his weakest, Faith and Roberta convince him that there is no way he can serve Salem with his broken down body. He renounces his service to Salem and Roberta executes him.
> 
> Chad hated Tyrian from the start. Many times in our discussions of the story he stated with no uncertainty that Tyrian was going to die brutally. I never asked whether Chad hated Tyrian because he’s the kind of villain you love to hate, or he just didn’t like the character itself. Maybe I’ll see him on the other side and I can ask him then. 
> 
> Please feel free to comment at will.
> 
> Next idea; Faith Lehane versus Hazel Rainart in a slobberknocker; place your bets! They may have little girly first names but the also have big, nasty punches - lots of 'em!


End file.
